State aid to institutions for imbeciles : report of deputation to the Lord President of the Council, at the Privy Council Office, Whitehall, on Wednesday, February 12th, 1890.

  • Asylums for Idiots and Imbeciles in England and Wales.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: State aid to institutions for imbeciles : report of deputation to the Lord President of the Council, at the Privy Council Office, Whitehall, on Wednesday, February 12th, 1890. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    TO 18.483. Though they are of the same class, that is to say, children of parents in straitened circumstances ?—Yes ; and the question is whether it would not be as proper to give State aid to them as to give it to paupers. It would not be necessary, in their case, to give it to them as being lunatics, but it might be given to them as being educable children, whose parents are unable to pay for the costly educational appliances, which the exceptional condition of the children renders necessary. 18.484. If that principle were admitted, it would apply also to the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind ?— Yes. 18.485. Because the conditions would be similar ?— Yes ; it would be a good thing in my opinion if the State gave this assistance, making it the same in amount as that given to pauper children. 18.486. In the event of State aid being given in respect of children of this class, would you give the State any means of ascertaining the educability of the children ?—The elected pupils, under existing arrangements, are understood to consist solely of the educable, and no difficulty would, there- fore, arise in connexion with such State aid if it were given, in dividing the elected pupils into educable and ineducable. They would all be educable. 18.487. Are there any such educable children who ought to be in an Institution for Idiots and Imbeciles prevented now from entering such an institution by reason of the inability of the parents to pay, and their unwillingness to be classed as paupers ?—I have little doubt that state of things may exist to some extent. In Scotland there is practically no difference between the treatment of pauper and elected children when once they go to an institution. 18.488. If the parents can now pay for their children in such institutions, why should the State interfere and relieve the parents of their responsibility ?—The State ought not to give assistance where parents can pay for a childs training and maintenance. 18.489. Then who is to judge whether the parents can or can not, if they do not, ex hypothesi, come before the guardians as paupers. Is the Board of Lunacy to judge whether the parents are or not able to support their children ? —Your question, as I understand it, is this :—Who is to determine with regard to an elected pupil that its parents were not able to pay for its education ? A regulation would require to be made by which some clear evidence on that point would be given by the directors of the institution receiving the child—evidence which would satisfy the General Board who licensed the institution, or some such Board. I do not think you could get nearer a practical way of dealing with the matter than that.
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