[619] There was not much pretence of technical instruction in the earlier Orders. What was aimed at was putting the children to work, chosen for its utility, not for its instructiveness (i.e. digging rather than gardening, mending the shoes of the establishment rather than learning the art of shoemaking). In the Special Order to the Walsall and West Bromwich School District of 1st July 1871, it was laid down that the children might be employed (under certain circumstances, wholly employed) "upon works of industry." In an amending Special Order of 20th July 1893, the age was raised, but the phrase was retained.
[620] Order of 30th January 1897 in Twenty-seventh Annual Report, 1897-8, pp. 5-8; see for its effect Thirty-third Annual Report, 1903-4, p. 256.
[621] General Order "prescribing attendance" as regards workhouse schools, 30th October 1877, in Seventh Annual Report, 1877-8, p. 204.
[622] Circular Letter, 1st February 1897, in Twenty-seventh Annual Report, 1897-8, p. 5.
[623] Selections from the Correspondence of the Local Government Board, vol. i. 1880, p. 224; Local Government Chronicle, 30th January 1904, p. 113.
[624] By a General Order of 20th May 1881, corporal punishment is absolutely forbidden in Poor Law Schools as regards "any female child" of any age. This rule has not yet been made by the Board of Education for the schools attended by non-paupers nor by most local education authorities.
[625] Thirty-third Annual Report, 1903-4, p. 256.
[626] Circular Letter of 4th August 1900, on Aged Deserving Poor, in Thirtieth Annual Report, 1900-1901, p. 18.
[627] Hansard, 8th May 1894, vol. 24, p. 598.
[628] 10th September 1877, in Seventh Annual Report, 1877-8, pp. 193-200.