§ MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the new practice recently introduced with regard to the transfer of dangerous lunatics from workhouses to district 216 asylums in Ireland, whether hitherto, as a preliminary to such transfer, an order was first obtained from two Justices under the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 118, s. 10, on a certificate from the dispensary doctor; whether there has been any change in the law enabling this order and certificate to be dispensed with; whether it is the practice now to transfer such lunatics in the same manner as if they were harmless pauper lunatics—namely, without a magistrate's order, and on the certificate of the workhouse doctor merely; and on what authority this change of practice is based?
MR. J. MORLEYI am not aware of any new practice respecting the transfer of dangerous lunatics in Ireland from workhouses to district asylums. Persons admitted to district asylums as dangerous lunatics require a committal order to be signed by two Justices, together with a certificate of the dispensary medical officer. If the hon. Member is aware of any case in which there has been a departure from the law I will inquire into it.