§ MR. W. J. CORBETasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his statement on 25th June last, that the Report of the Eng- 2100 lish Lunacy Commissioners for the year ending 31st December 1882, was in type, and would soon be presented, What is the cause of the delay in its issue to Members; and, if he can state why the Report of the Lunacy Board, Scotland, has not been issued before this, the Report of the Irish Department, with a munerically inferior staff, having been circulated more than a month since?
§ MR. HIBBERT, in reply, said, the Report of the English Lunacy Commissioners was laid on the Table on the 16th of July, and he was surprised that it had not been put in the hands of Members; but he would urge upon the authorities the necessity of doing so at once. With respect to the Scotch Report, he had communicated with the Scotch Lunacy Commissioners about a week ago, and was informed by them the Report would be ready in a few days. It had been delayed in consequence of a discussion about the accommodation of lunatics in Scotland.
§ MR. W. J. CORBETasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Return just issued of the expenditure incurred in providing accommodation for pauper lunatics in England and Wales up to 31st December 1881, Whether he has observed that no Returns of the cost of land, buildings, repairs,&c. are given from Beds, Herts, Hunts, Ipswich Borough, and York North Riding Asylums, and that the Paper is in other respects imperfect; whether he can state if the sum of £8,200,000, mentioned in note at foot of page 9 as being about the total amount spent by the existing authorities on land and buildings, represents the actual cost ab initio, or was there other expenditure, and, if so, how much, before the present authorities came into existence; and, can the whole amount expended on the maintenance of pauper lunatics from public sources, wherever located, be given?
§ MR. HIBBERT, in reply, said, the Return as issued was undoubtedly imperfect. He regretted that; but it was owing to the difficulty of obtaining the information with respect to the five counties named. If it was desired, a supplemental Return would be issued. The sum named in the Question represented the actual expenditure on land and buildings so far as the Commissioners could ascertain it.