Waters and Mary Hall called attention to the infamous relations between the
lying-in houses and the baby-farming houses of London. The evil was, no
doubt, largely connected with the question of illegitimacy, for there was a
wide-spread existence of baby-farms where children were received without
question on payment of a lump sum. Such children were nearly all
illegitimate, and in these cases it was to the pecuniary advantage of the
baby-farmer to hasten the death of the child. It had become also the
practice for factory operatives and mill-hands to place out their children
by the day, and since in many cases the children were looked upon as a
burden and a drain on their parents' resources, too particular inquiry was
not always made as to the mode in which the children were cared for. The
form was gone through too of paying a ridiculously insufficient sum for the
maintenance of the child. In 1871 the House of Commons found it necessary
to appoint a select committee "to inquire as to the best means of
preventing the destruction of the lives of infants put out to nurse for
hire by their parents." "Improper and insufficient food," said the
committee, "opiates, drugs, crowded rooms, bad air, want of cleanliness,
and wilful neglect are sure to be followed in a few months by diarrhoea,
convulsions and wasting away." These unfortunate children were nearly all
illegitimate, and the mere fact of their being hand-nursed, and not
breast-nursed, goes some way (according to the experience of the Foundling
hospital and the Magdalene home) to explain the great mortality among them.
Such children, when nursed by their mothers in the workhouse, generally
live. The practical result of the committee of 1871 was the act of 1872,
which provided for the compulsory registration of all houses in which more
than one child under the age of one year were received for a longer period
than twenty-four hours. No licence was granted by the justices of the
peace, unless the house was suitable for the purpose, and its owner a
person of good character and able to maintain the children. Offences
against the act, including wilful neglect of the children even in a
suitable house, were punishable by a fine of L5 or six months' imprisonment
with or without hard labour. In 1896 a select committee of the House of
Lords sat and reported on the working of this act. In consequence of this
report the act of 1872 was repealed and superseded by the Infant Life
Protecti