The Report of the Departmental Committee, appointed to report on
the condition of Poor-law schools, was published on Thursday. The Committee consisted of experts like Mr. Mundella, Mr. Lynlph Stanley, Sir J. Gorat, and the Rev. Brooke Lambert, with Sir J. Russell Reynolds to represent sanitation, and Mrs. Barnett to plead for the interests of the female children. The Report is utterly condemnatory of the present system, which is declared to be bad in every par- ticular. The children are crowded in huge barracks, are habitually neglected, and are taught simply nothing. The Committee declare that there must be more "individual care" and " a more natural life," and specially recommend the abandonment of aggregation and advise boarding-out on a great scale. Reform will cost money, but it is indispensable, and, as we hope to point out next week, the outlay can be made to repay itself. The narrative of the children's condition is thoroughly disgraceful to the country, and specially dis- , creditable to its chattering philanthropists.
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