§ MR. HOBHOUSE (Somerset, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department is he is aware that, owing to there being at present no State or certified inebriate reformatory having accommodation for males, the Inebriates Act of last year is almost a dead letter; and what steps he proposes to take, or to recommend the local authorities to take, to enable the Act to be put in force?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. W. RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)I cannot altogether agree with the suggestion in the first paragraph of the Question. At the same time, I should be very glad to see local authorities coming forward more readily and assisting the operation of the Act, particularly as regards males, by either establishing reformatories themselves, alone or in combination, or by promising grants or contributions to private persons or associations who are willing to erect reformatories. As I have already stated, I do not at present feel justified in setting up a State reformatory; but I have secured substantial Government contributions for persons committed to certified reformatories. It is to these reformatories that in any case the largest number of committals would be made, and it is upon them that the effectiveness of the Act must mainly depend. I may add that I am collecting information from the police authorities throughout the country as to the number of persons within their districts apparently qualified for committal under section 2 of the Act. When the information is complete I propose in proper cases to draw the special attention of the local authorities to their responsibility in the matter.
§ MR. HOBHOUSEDoes the right honourable Gentleman admit that at present there is no accommodation for males in any certified reformatory?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTYes, that is quite true. One or two of the arrangements which I had hoped would come into effect have broken down.