The Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act 1901(38/1901) repealed the Colonial Reformatory Act and Destitute Children’s Act which had existed since 1866. This Act governed industrial schools and reformatories. The new Act retained the 1866 provisions for offenders under sixteen, and for vagrant and destitute children. It provided a court with the power to commit a child to the care of a relative, a named person, the State Children’s Relief Board or to a public industrial school. It was repealed by the Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905.