INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL CHILDREN

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 11

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL CHILDREN

PROPOSED INCREASE OF ' PAYMENTS. The Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid' Board lias received the following from the Assistant-Director of Education (Mr. John Caughley) respecting the-amounts payable, .to that Department by the board on.account of indigent (partly or wholly) children, who are inmates of industrial schools. The ■ letter reads as'follows:— ■; "Up to the present the Department has recovered what-it could from the parents of children who are inmates of industrial schools, and for 'whose maintenance hospital arid charitable aid ;boards are.liable, and in the ordinary ■course has allowed the boards credit jfor all amounts so-collected. In no ; case does the- amount paid by the jboard, viz., 7s. 6d. a week, adequately recompense the "Department. l<br instance, the minimum boarding-out rate as.Bs. a week, and in addition the Department provides an outlit, pays for medical attendance and'medicine and I dentistry, and: provides- the means for i supervising' the foster-homes. I<V infants,, 10s. a week is paid for board, and in cases of delicate children rates varying from 12s. to £1 a week have to be paid. ,It has been decided, therefore;, . ~.,..;",',": ./....'„' '".'■■] - "(I) To regard the minimum'cost'of maintenance as,los. : a week for each child;; this is the fee fixed.by the'ln-! dustrial Schools Act. : "(2) To allow tho contributions from parents and relatives to accumulate until the child ceases to be a charge on the Government, arid . "(3) To refund to the board concerned the balance representing the difference between the actual total amount paid for board by the Department (less 7s. 6d. a week paid by the board) and the total recoveries by the relativos. The Department will still continue to provide outfits, medical and dental attention, at no cost to the boards. "It is further proposed that after the end of the next financial year claims will be sent out annually instead of quarterly as at present. The amount of clerical work in this connection'at present is very considerable, and represents time that can bo more profitably, employed in the direction of increasing the recoveries from parents.—(Signed) Jho. Caughley, Assistant Director of Education."..