WM. PRESTON LANE, JR., GOVERNOR. 2181

public or private schools shall attend some school or classes
for the deaf or blind for eight months, or during the
scholastic year, unless it can be shown that the child is else-
where receiving regularly thorough instruction during the
said period, in studies usually taught in the said public
schools to children of the same age; provided, that the super-
intendent or principal of any school for the deaf or blind, or
person or persons duly authorized by such superintendent or
principal, may excuse cases of necessary absence among its
enrolled pupils; and provided, further, that the provisions of
this section shall not apply to a child whose physical condition
is such as to render its instruction, as above described, inex-
pedient or impracticable. Every person having under his or
her control such a child between six and eighteen years of age
shall cause such a child to attend school or receive instructions
as required by this section.

226. Any person who induces or attempts to induce any
child who by reason of any partial or total deafness or
partial or total blindness is unable to progress satisfac-
torily in ordinary public or private schools, to absent him-
self or herself unlawfully from school, or employs or
harbors any such child absent unlawfully from school, while
said school is in session, shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof before a justice of
the peace, be fined a sum not exceeding Fifty Dollars ($ 50.00)
for each offense. The State's Attorney in the county in which
such child resides, or in Baltimore City if such child resides
therein, shall be charged with the enforcement of this section.
It shall be the duty of the State's Attorney, before proceeding
to enforce the provisions of this section to have such child
examined by two physicians, one of whom shall be a specialist
in the field of eye, ear and throat, to determine whether
such child is unable to progress satisfactorily on account
of its partial blindness or deafness or from some other cause
and if the certificate of said doctor shall indicate that the
failure to progress satisfactorily is due to deafness or partial
deafness or blindness or partial blindness, then the provisions
of this section and Section 223 shall apply; the costs of said
medical examinations shall be borne by the several counties
or the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, as the case
may be.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1947.

Approved May 7, 1947.