The age under which it should be a felony to
commit offences of the kind dealt with by the Bill on girls, was raised to 13, and the age under which it shall be a misdemeanour, was raised from 13 to 16, a letter from Mr. Gladstone being read which argued for a limit of 18. It was, however, held by the House that this age was too high and likely to lead to almost any amount of extortion. The protected age was therefore raised to 16 by 179 to 71. On Monday most necessary rights of search were given to recover girls under 16 from detention in houses of ill-repute, and the House went the length of allowing such rights of search to be given on behalf of any person who is bond Me interested in the girl, whether her parents or not. On the whole, the Bill will be a very good one, though it will hardly counterbalance one hundredth part of the mischief which the steps taken to ensure its passing have unfortunately caused. Good people too often neglect the duty of counting the cost of the good they achieve.
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