[649] Circular Letter of 31st May 1873, in Third Annual Report, 1873-4, pp. 3-4.
[650] See ante, p. 17.
[651] Circular of 2nd March 1895, in Twenty-fifth Annual Report, 1895-6, p. 118.
[652] Thirty-fifth Annual Report, 1905-6, pp. cxxx, cxxxi.
[653] Omitting children receiving medical relief only; and the casuals and insane (ibid. p. cxxxi).
[654] Hansard, 28th May 1887, vol. 315, p. 857. The policy of the Central Authority was apparently against allowing the guardians to assume parental responsibilities. In 1889 Mr. Ritchie had prepared a Bill "to provide that, on application to the justices, an Order might be made detaining a child already under the care of the guardians or boarded out" (Local Government Chronicle, 23rd March 1889, p. 238), but not extending the duties or responsibilities of the guardians.
[655] Poor Law Act 1889, 52 & 58 Vic. c. 56. sec. 1.
[656] Circular of 28th September 1899, in Twenty-ninth Annual Report 1889-1900, p. 48.
[657] Custody of Children Act, 54 Vic. c. 3, secs. 3, 4.
[658] Poor Law Act, 1899, 62 & 63 Vic. c. 37, secs. 1-3.