MR. JAMES GRAY'S PAPER 123 



of discovery, and the first impulse to improvement 

 lose their force, such prosecutions will become neces- 

 sary. The Act gives the Department considerable 

 power, but experience teaches that it is not wise to 

 use power with any degree of harshness. As flagrant 

 cases of disregard of instructions arise, legal pro- 

 ceedings will have to be taken. In the appendices 1 

 hereto will be found the regulations, the feeding- 

 instructions, &c., which are the ground of the work 

 undertaken in connection with child saving by this 

 Department. 



One of the reasons for work along these lines is 

 that it prevents to a great degree the need of 

 relieving the mothers of their children, and the con- 

 sequent building up of a large class of dependent or 

 pauper children. It would seem that it must be for 

 every reason a much better thing to enforce upon 

 parents the duty of attending properly to their 

 children, than to relieve them of that duty, for if 

 anything can cause love for their offspring it is the 

 doing of loving and kindly acts, and if the duty does 

 not become a pleasure as it frequently does, then at 

 least it is a duty done, and if at the point of the 

 bayonet, still done, if considered as a penalty still 

 a good thing. In order to make this part of the work 

 as complete as possible, the Department traces the 

 fathers as well as the mothers, and compels them 

 to pay towards maintenance. The law here has been 

 so altered as to be considerably in advance of other 

 places in this respect. 



For example, no corroboration of the woman's 

 testimony is required unless, and until, the defendant 

 has on his oath denied her allegations and has been 

 cross-examined. Anyone familiar with affiliation 

 cases will see that such provision is a great alteration 



1 These may be consulted at the Offices of the Association, 

 4, Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 



