§ MR. FLOYERsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether his attention has been directed to the proposed arrangements at Netley for the care and treatment of insane Soldiers; whether, considering that there are at the present time in a private Asylum at Bow 195 male and six female patients belonging to the military service, he considers the proposed provision for sixty patients adequate to the wants of the Army; and whether, in the event of its being considered necessary to provide for a much larger number in buildings under the control of the Government, he thinks that it is wise to make that provision in the grounds of the Hospital at Netley?
GENERAL PEEL,in reply, said, his attention had been called to the building now being erected at Netley, for the care of insane soldiers. It was placed there in 1533 consequence of the Report of the Committee that sat in 1863, on the removal of the establishment from Chatham. It could hardly be called an asylum, because the patients were only placed there for the purpose of observation, and would after a short period be removed to their friends, or to private asylums. Certainly accommodation for only sixty patients would not be sufficient for a lunatic asylum for the whole army, neither was it intended that it should be. The reason for providing accommodation for sixty was that the Committee reported that that was the greatest number placed at one time in the old lunatic asylum at Chatham. The great advantage of having at Netley a connection with the marine establishments, was that the lunatics who came home from abroad could be at once taken charge of there. Another advantage was that the medical students of the hospital at Netley had an opportunity of studying the cases of lunacy in the asylum.