§ MR. HOYLE (Lancashire, S.E., Heywood)asked the President of the Local Government Board, If he is aware that a proposition to award a retiring pension of £800 a-year to the medical officer of the Lunatic Asylum, Rainhill, Lancashire, is to be considered at their next Court on the 26th instant; and, whether, in consideration of the impending transfer of the county asylums to the County Council, any representation can be made to the Justices by which the imposition of such a charge on the county rates may be deferred until the Council enters on its duties?
§ THE PRESIDENT (Mr. RITCHIE) (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I have no information as to the proposition referred to. The Committee of Visitors of a lunatic asylum may, under the Lunatic Asylums Acts, award a superannuation allowance to any officer of the asylum who, from confirmed sickness, age, or in firmity, becomes incapable of executing his office in person, or who has been an officer in the asylum for not less than 15 years, and is not under 50 years of age. The allowance is not to exceed two-thirds of the salary payable at the time of retirement. No such allowance, however, can be charged on the county rates until the award has been confirmed by a Resolution of Quarter Sessions. The matter is not one in which the Local Government Board have any jurisdiction; and I cannot undertake to make any representations to the Justices as to the exercise of their statutory powers in the matter.