[ART. 23 MINORS—SOCIETIES FOR CARE OF. 639

charges of transportation thereon, may be submitted to and
decided by the board of public works; and the decision of the
said board shall be final in all cases submitted to them.

Minors—Institutions and Societies for the Care and
Protection of.

1900, ch. 316, secs. 1 and 2. 1904, ch. 77.

240. All bodies incorporated or to be incorporated under
the general laws for the purposes of the care, custody, guardian-
ship or protection of minors, generally or of any particular ages
or classes, have the power and authority following: (1) To
retain children legally committed or confined to them until the
age of eighteen years in females and twenty-one years in males ;
and to discharge such children absolutely before attaining said
age whenever the managers of such institutions shall deem such
discharge to be beneficial to such children. (2) To permit
the return of such children to their parents or other relatives,
or to place them out in suitable homes without relinquishing
absolutely the custody, control and supervision of the man-
agers, and a record is to be kept of the time of placing out,
name and residence of persons with whom placed, and terms
and conditions of placing out. And it is the duty of the man-
agers to cause every child so placed out to be visited not less
than once in six months in order to inquire into his or her wel-
fare until he or she shall attain the age of eighteen in females
and twenty-one in males. And the managers may require the
return to the institution of any child under twenty-one years of
age so placed with parents or relatives or in other homes
whenever they shall deem that the welfare of the child requires
such return. (3) To exercise parental authority and control
over such children and make all needful provisions as to their
care, maintenance and education. (4) To procure the commit-
ment of such children in cases of necessity to reformatory
institutions.

The foregoing provisions are not to be understood to affect
the power of courts to adjudicate all questions as to the custody
of minors, irrespective of any alleged or supposed claim or
right of guardianship or custody, or to abridge or affect any
corporate rights of any institution, or to prevent the receiving
of minors under such limitations, or for such definite periods
as any institution may by its regulations direct or prescribe.