Obligations of parents.

Penalties.

Duty of police officers.

Duty of teachers,

Proceedings

against parents.

missioners of the city of Sydney, upon the presentation to said board of satisfactory evidence, showing that such child is prevented from attendance upon school, or application to study, by mental, physical or other good and sufficient reasons; but any child over twelve years of age who passes a satisfactory examination in grade seven of common school work, and any other child over thirteen years of age who has attended school at least sixty days during fourteen consecutive weeks in the preceding year, if necessity requires such child to work, and who shows that fact to the satisfaction of the board, and obtains the written permission of the secretary of such board for such employment, and every child between the ages of fourteen and sixteen actually at work, shall be exempt from the requirements of this section.

2. Every parent or person in charge of any child residing in the city of Sydney, shall cause such child to attend some public or private day school, as provided in section 1. of this Act.

3. Every parent or person in charge of any child in the city of Sydney, who fails to comply with the preceding section, shall be liable on summary conviction before the stipendiary magistrate, to a fine not less than one nor more than twenty dollars and costs. Provided, however, that before such penalty is incurred, the parent or other person liable therefor, shall be notified in writing by the secretary of the board of such non-compliance, and shall have opportunity by compliance with the requirements of this Act, then and thereafter to avoid the imposition of such penalty.

4. It shall be the duty of the police officers of the city of Sydney to report to the secretary of the board the names of all children who are not attending any school, and the names of the parents or guardians of any such children, or the persons having lawful control of any such children, and to act generally under the orders of the board for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

5. It shall be the duty of every teacher to report in writing to the secretary of the board the names of all children on the school register who have been absent five days without lawful excuse, as soon as every said absence has accrued.

6. On the receipt of such report, either from a police officer or a teacher, if it shall appear that any parent, or

other person having lawful control of any child or children, shall have failed to comply with the provisions of this Act, after due notification in writing, as provided in section 3, the secretary, by direction from and in the name of the board, or any other person so appointed for that purpose, shall proceed against the offending party or parties in accordance with law.

7. (1) It shall be the duty of the board to cause all Prosecutions. parents and other persons, in charge of children residing in the city of Sydney, failing to comply with the law, to be summoned before the stipendiary magistrate, unless such parents or persons satisfy the board that the physical or mental condition of the child of such person is such as to render attendance or instruction in a public school inexpedient or impracticable, or that such child is being properly educated in reading, spelling, writing, English composition, geography and arithmetic, otherwise than in a public or approved private school, or that the failure to attend the requisite term was owing to ill health or temporary absence from the city, or through some domestic affliction in the family of said person, rendering it necessary or prudent, in the opinion of the board, to keep such child home, or that the parent, guardian or person summoned was, by reason of poverty, unable to provide such child with proper and sufficient wearing apparel for attendance at school, and that such parent, guardian or person, bona fide, endeavoured to procure sufficient wearing apparel for such child to attend school, or for other good and sufficient reasons.

(2) For the purposes of this Act the board shall approve a private school only when the instruction given therein includes reading, spelling, writing, English composition, geography and arithmetic, as well taught as in ordinary public schools, and when such school shall keep a register of attendance, in form and manner as prescribed by the Council of Public Instruction for public schools, which register shall, at all times during school hours, be open to the inspection of such persons as the board shall appoint, and shall furnish to the board such reports and returns, concerning the studies and attendance of all pupils in such school, between the ages of six and sixteen years, as may be required for the carrying out of the provisions of this Act; and it shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Education to supply such register and blanks for returns as may be necessary for compliance with the provisions of this section.

Who may be exempted.

Fines, to whom paid.

Evidence.

(3) No parent or person, in charge of any child, shall be exempt from the penalties of section 3, on the ground that the child in question is being educated "otherwise than in a public or approved private school," unless such child presents a certificate from the supervising principal of schools of having passed a satisfactory examination on the grade of work suitable to the child's age and previous opportunities for receiving an education; and it shall be the duty of the supervising principal to examine at stated times all such children making application whose compliancewith this Act is called in question.

(4) In any prosecution under this Act, the age stated in the information shall be taken prima facie to be the age of the child, and the prescribed register of any departments shall be evidence of the attendance or absence of any pupil.

(5) No other than the board, or a committee, or person or persons appointed by either of them for the purpose, shall have power or authority to prosecute or institute any proceedings before the stipendiary magistrate under this Act.

8. The stipendiary magistrate may exempt any parent, guardian or person from any penalty under this Act, on proof of any of the reasons set forth in section 7 of this Act, and the exemptions mentioned in section 1 of said Act.

9. All fines and penalties imposed and recovered under, this Act shall be paid over to the board, and be applied by it towards enforcing and carrying out the provisions of this Act, and the magistrate may, in any conviction made under this Act, impose an alternative of imprisonment in the county jail for non-payment of the fine, such imprisonment to be not more than twenty days.

10. A certificate, signed by the secretary of the board, that the name of the child or of the children mentioned in the summons do not appear in any school register of any of the public schools of the city, or that the child or children named have not complied with the requirements of section 1 of this Act, shall be received by the magistrate as prima facie evidence of such non-registration or such non-compliance, without requiring any proof of the signature of such secretary, or the production of any school register or list in the custody of the board, or any certified extract of the same.

the streets.

11. Any police officer finding a child apparently between Loitering on the ages of eight and sixteen years, wandering or loitering in the streets or places of resort of the city during school hours, shall arrest such child, and if he can ascertain the school which such child attends, shall take such child to such school and give him or her into the charge of the principal thereof; and if he cannot ascertain the school which the child attends, he shall take the child to the nearest public school and place him or her in charge of the principal of such school.

of children.

12. (1) No child under the age of fourteen years shall Employment be employed by any person to labor in any business whatever during the hours from nine o'clock in the morning until half-past three in the afternoon of any school day, unless such child has attended some public school or some approved private school, or has been otherwise instructed by a teacher qualified to instruct in spelling, reading, writing, geography, English composition and arithmetic for at least one hundred and twenty days in the year next preceding, and in every year in which such child is employed, and at the time of such employment delivers to the employer a certificate, signed by the secretary of the board, certifying to such attendance, or a certificate signed by the supervising principal, that such child has passed a satisfactory examination in grade seven of common school work.

(2) Any child, between the ages of thirteen and fourteen years, who has attended a public school or approved private school at least sixty full days during fourteen consecutive weeks during the preceding year, and delivers to the employer the secretary's certificate of such attendance, may be employed to labor. But no child under the age of thirteen years shall at any time be employed in any mechanical, manufacturing or mercantile establishment.

(3) Every person who employs any child contrary to the provisions of this section shall for each offence be liable to a penalty of not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and in default of payment, to imprisonment for not more than one month.

13. The board, or such officer or person as it appoints, shall, in the months of November and May in every year, and at such other times as it deems necessary, examine into the condition of the children employed in every manufacturing or other establishment, and for this purpose may enter, inspect and examine at all reasonable hours, by day

Examination o

children.

List furnished by employer.

Hearing.

Summary Convictions' Act to apply.

or night, any such establishment or any part thereof, and ascertain whether all the provisions of this Act are duly observed, and prosecute every person violating any of such provisions.

14. (1) On demand, on any such examination as is mentioned in the next preceding section, the proprietor, superintendent or manager of such establishment or manufactory shall exhibit to the officer or person appointed by the board to make such examination, a correct list of all children under the age of fourteen years employed in such manufactory or establishment, with the required certificate of attendance at school or place of instruction.

(2) Any such proprietor, superintendent or manager who fails to furnish such list, or to send such list to the office of the board when requested in writing to do so, or who wilfully delays the officer or person appointed by the board in the exercise of any power under this Act or obstructs such officer or person so appointed in the discharge of his duties under this Act, shall be liable to a penalty of not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and in default of payment, to imprisonment for not more than one month.

15. The hearing before the stipendiary magistrate shall not be held in open court, and only the persons interested in the child or representing the board and witnesses, shall be allowed to be present.

16. The provisions of the Summary Convictions Act, chapter 161 of the Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1900, shall apply to all provisions under this Act, when not inconsistent with any express provisions herein. Where any penalty is adjudged the same shall be with costs.