vention of the Act will be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 6).

If the offence is committed by an agent or workman of an employer, he will be liable to a penalty as if he were the employer.

If a child is taken into employment in contravention of the Act, on the production by the parent of a false or forged certificate, or on a false representation by the parent that the child is of an age at which he could be lawfully employed, the parent will be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s.

If an employer charged with taking a child into his employment in contravention of the Act proves that he has used due diligence to enforce the observance of its provisions, and either that the child has been employed without his knowledge or consent by some agent or workman, or that the child has been employed on the production of a false or forged certificate, or on a false representation by the parent as to the age of the child, under the belief, in good faith, in the genuineness and truth of the certificate or representation, the employer will be exempt from the penalty.

In the case of an employer satisfying the local authority, inspector, or other person about to institute a prosecution that he is exempt under this section, and giving all facilities in his power for proceeding against the guilty person, the proceedings are to be instituted against such person and not against the employer (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 39).

The provisions of the Act as to the employment of children are to be enforced by the school boards and school attendance committees, except as regards children employed in factories, workshops, and mines. In these cases the duty will devolve on the inspectors and sub-inspectors appointed by the Secretary of State, but the local authorities are to assist them by information or otherwise (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 7).

These provisions are not, however, to prejudice the effect of any enactment relating to the employment of children in any previous statute which may be more stringent in its provisions (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 50).

Indirect Compulsion.-Attendance of Children at School a Condition of Out-door Relief.

The Education Act of 1873 contained a provision which in certain cases rendered the attendance of children at school a necessary condition of relief out of the workhouse being granted by the guardians. The enactment is repealed from the 1st January, 1877, and a new clause (sec. 40) is introduced, with the view of adapting the section to the provisions of this Act. Where relief out of the workhouse is given by the guardians or their order, by way of weekly or other continuing allowance to the parent of a child between the ages of five and fourteen years, or to any such child, it will be a condition for the continuance of the relief that elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic shall be provided for the child, if the child has not reached the standard in reading, writing, and arithmetic prescribed by Standard Three of the Code of 1876, or under the Act of 1876 (see p. 41) is prohibited from being taken into full time employment, or by the bye-laws in force in the district is required to attend school. The guardians are to give such further relief (if any) as may be necessary to enable a child to attend school in pursuance of this section; but it is not to be a condition of the relief that the child shall attend any public elementary school other than that which is selected by the parent, nor is the relief to be refused because the child attends or does not attend any particular public elementary school. The guardians are not, however, to give any relief to a parent in order to enable him to pay more than the ordinary fee payable at the school which he selects, and in no case is the fee to exceed threepence per week (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 40).

Returns to Local Authorities of Births and Deaths.

It is essential, for the purpose of the Acts, that facilities should be furnished for obtaining information as to the ages of children, and sec. 25 accordingly provides for a copy of

the entry in the register with respect to any birth being furnished by the registrar on a requisition in a form to be prescribed by the Local Government Board, and on payment of such fee, not exceeding one shilling, as may be fixed by that board (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 25). Provision is also made for arrangements under which the registrar will furnish the local authority with returns of the births and deaths registered by him (sec. 26).

Miscellaneous Duties of Local Authorities.

It devolves on the local authority to publish the provisions of the Act of 1876 within their jurisdiction in such manner as they think best calculated for making the provisions known (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 7).

It will also be their duty to report to the Education Department any infractions of the provisions of sec. 7 of the Education Act, 1870 (the conscience clause, see p. 3), which may come to their knowledge (sec. 7).

The local authority will further be required to furnish the Education Department with such returns and information as to their proceedings under the Act as may from time to time be called for by the department (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 43).

Default of Local Authority.

If a school board or school attendance committee fail to fulfil their duties as the local authority, the Education Department, by sec. 27, have vested in them ample powers for dealing with the default.

In the case of a school board, the Education Department may proceed, as if the board had made default under the Education Act, 1870 (see p. 22).

In the case of a school attendance committee, the Department may, by order, appoint persons for a specified period, not exceeding two years, to perform the duty of the committee. During such period the persons appointed by the Department are to take the place of the defaulting committee;

they are to be invested with all the powers of the committee, and are not to be subject to any control by the council or guardians by whom the committee were appointed. When the period for which persons have been appointed by the Education Department expires, a school attendance committee are forthwith to be appointed by the council or the guardians, as the case may be, and such committee will resume the duties of the local authority under the Act, subject, if necessary, to further proceedings under this section in the event of a new default.

The Education Department may assign remuneration to the persons appointed by them to take the place of a defaulting committee, and such remuneration and the expenses incurred by them in the discharge of their duties, to such amount as may be certified by the Education Department to be due, will be a debt to Her Majesty, and will be recoverable accordingly from the council or the guardians (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 27).

Expenses of Local Authorities and Guardians, and Payment of School Fees by Guardians.

Expenses of Local Authorities and Guardians.

The expenses incurred by a school board as a local authority will be defrayed in like manner as their expenses under the Education Acts, 1870, 1873 (see p. 26).

School attendance committees are not to incur expenses without the consent of the authority by whom they are appointed. The expenses incurred with that consent are to be defrayed as follows:

In the case of a school attendance committee appointed by the council of a borough, the expenses are to be paid out of the borough fund or borough rate (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 31).

When the committee are appointed by an urban sanitary authority, the expenses are to be paid out of a fund to be raised out of the poor rate of the parish or parishes comprised in the district, according to the rateable value of each parish.

The urban sanitary authority for the purpose of obtaining payment of such expenses are to have the same power as a board of guardians have for obtaining contributions to their common fund under the Poor Law Acts (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 33).

In the case of a committee appointed by a board of guardians, the expenses are to be defrayed out of a fund raised out of the poor rate of the parishes in which the committee act, according to the rateable value of each parish, and for obtaining payment of these expenses the guardians will have the same powers as they have for obtaining contributions to the common fund of the union.

The moneys given by boards of guardians for the payment of school fees for the children of parents who are not paupers (see p. 48) are to be charged to the parish in which the parent is resident, in like manner as other parochial charges. The same mode of charging is to be adopted in any case in which the guardians give a parent relief to enable him to pay the amount required in respect of a child sent to a certified day industrial school (see p. 49).

Relief given by the guardians for the attendance at school of pauper children under sec. 40 (see p. 44) will be paid out of the common fund of the union. In the metropolis the relief thus given will be repayable from the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund.

When the guardians require to raise expenses from part of a parish, as in the case of a parish partly within and partly without a borough, the overseers of the entire parish are to be deemed to be the overseers of the part of the parish, and a rate in the nature of a poor rate may be levied in such part by the overseers, either as a separate rate or as an addition to the poor rate. The guardians will have the like power of obtaining payment of a contribution from part of a parish as they have in the case of a whole parish (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79, sec. 49).