§ MR. R. PURVIS (Peterborough)On behalf of the hon. Member for Oxford, Viscount VALENTIA, I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, what is the cost per day of maintenance of inmates of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum; 1341 and, whether inmates who are Government pensioners are required to contribute towards their maintenance; if so, whether it is the intention of the Treasury to punish afflicted pensioners by stoppage of payment of their pensions to their families, though inmates who have not served in the public services, equally culpable and irresponsible, suffer no such punishment.
§ Mr. HANBURYThe total cost of Broadmoor, exclusive of interest on capital expenditure, is shown on page 254 of the Estimates for the coming year to be £34,580, and the number of patients 650; the cost of each patient is therefore 2s. 11d. per diem. Government pensioners are required to contribute towards their own maintenance in accordance with sub-section 2 of section 7 of the Superannuation Act, 1887, which enacts that, if a Government pensioner becomes a lunatic towards whose maintenance a contribution is made out of money provided by Parliament, his pension shall be reduced by an amount equal to that contribution, or shall be stopped altogether if it is less than the contribution. I understand that other inmates having private incomes are equally liable under sub-section 3 of section 10 of the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884.