§ MR. J. REDMOND (Waterford)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he has observed that the Special Report of the Inspectors of Lunatics on the alleged increase of insanity, recently presented, conflicts with their statutory Reports, annually laid before Parliament, on the subject of increase, and whether any explanation of the difference can be given; and whether he will lay upon the Table the Reports of the Resident Medical Superintendents of the several district lunatic asylums, upon which the special Report in question has been founded, for the information of hon. Members who take an interest in the subject?
MR. J. MORLEYI am informed by the Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums that in their statutory Reports, annually presented to Parliament, they expressed the opinion that the increase of insanity in Ireland was absolute as well as relative, and they founded this opinion on the increasing number of first admissions to asylums, and the larger number of cases brought under official cognizance. Upon fuller inquiry, and having regard to the special information obtained in the Reports from the different lunacy districts, the Inspectors, in their special Report to which reference is made, have now expressed the opinion that, as at present advised, the absolute increase of insanity is not large, and is limited to certain districts. The Reports referred to in the second paragraph of the question will be published in full in the next statutory Report of the Inspectors to be laid on the Table in the course of a couple of months.