§ MR. W. J. CORBETasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the inconvenience caused by the delay in issuing the Reports of the English and Scotch Lunacy Commissioners; whether it is the case that they are never ready for distribution until the month of August, when the Session has ended, or nearly so, and that last year the Scotch Report was not ready till September; and, whether there is any special reason why these Reports, which are prepared annually on set forms that never vary materially, could not be issued while the facts are fresh, say in at least three or four months after the expiration of the year?
THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. Guilders)I have been in communication with the English and Scotch Commissioners on the subject of the issue of their Reports. The former tell me that, owing to the data for the tabulation of statistics not being to hand till the end of March, they cannot promise an earlier issue of their full Report; but they will undertake to have ready by the end of April for presentation to Parliament a tabular statement showing the total number of lunatics in various institutions up to the beginning of each year. The Scotch Commissioners tell 1211 me that they expect to be able to present their Report in future by the middle of June.