Child Victims

To England, where hundreds of thousands of children are living in foster homes and institutions, war had brought back an ancient disgrace--cruelty to children. Last week sensational cases of child maltreatment competed with the battle news on the front pages of the British press.

P: Near Shrewsbury, a 31-year-old farmer, Reginald Gough, and his pretty wife were on trial for manslaughter and cruelty after their foster child Dennis O'Neill, 13, was found dead in his straw bed one morning. The local coroner deposed that the boy, who was 21 lbs. under weight, had been beaten to death.

P: In Wallasey, a child, living with foster parents, died of maltreatment.

P: In Bradford, public-nursery officials were found to be underfeeding the children in their care and selling on the black market the meat and eggs allotted for the children.

In London, public indignation forced Home Secretary Herbert Morrison to name a committee to inquire into reports of bad moral conditions and cruelty in institutions and foster homes. Some 50 members of Parliament met with him to decide what to do. Magistrate George Reakes of Wallasey shook his fist: "It is no use fining these beasts. We must imprison them before they learn."

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