"THE CHILDREN'S CHARTER."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 507, 14 May 1909, Page 3

"THE CHILDREN'S CHARTER."

isome ;.weeks last, year on "The Children's Charter, 1 -' which, under the , official; title of . the Children Act, came into '.March,,; says, the London cor- . .respondent^, ; pf; t an/'Australian paper. / ;./The ;• measure'.!rdpresbhts ; '"a statesmanlike i .eii-' . deavour to make a little easier and more certain the strenuous way ot the children of the poor. It is comprehensive.. It aims 1 to protect the child against itself and its / parents from the time of its birth to an age ,'of .responsibility: -. Questionable insurance '-'of- ,. young life is forbidden, cruelty is restricted by higher penalties, drunken* parents who "overday"; _their -offspring will be- liable ..to severe punishment, parents who leave' open fires or, grates .which >lead to the burning of, 1 -children,' and those -who permit or 'cause 1 .boys and girls of ..tender years to beg in-the' 1 " streets, , will also' incur . the'■ penalty . of: the' '.' law. - On. the': "overlaying", question.<it'may 1 .be' mentioned th'at :: tho .mortality from'.this ! cause; so prevalent : in. the ' congestedslums, ; showed an; inorease of som'e'BOper cent, on Saturday and' Bank Holiday nights. ;If the Act can be enforced, tie British boy under ■ 16 years has smoked his last cigarette, and '■' .tobacconists may bo fined for selling'to him. Tho stranger to -London will. no : longer be : shocked to see almost every hotel bar in the pooror quarters at every hour containing women with babies In their arms and other i "small fry" dangling at their skirts. : No '. child of under 1-1 is to be permitted into bars. ; How common was the custom of giving, sips i of alcohol to these children may be ;inferred > from the fact "that it'becomes an offence, i- punishable with; a fine of £3, -to.give intoxii eating-liquor to a ,child under the age of five • years except , upon a doctor's order, or in r lease' of .'sickness,/apprehended sickness or. I, other urgent cause." There was a touch of v humour m dignified Commoners and Lonf doners discussing in detail all these condi-" -' tions of .Britain's babies. But the. task was ! carried / through : with greiit' earnestness ,by > men of all parties, and it is generally agreed - ! that .his Majesty's counsellors':were' seldom - better employed. '