MR. TREVELVAN (York, W. R., Elland)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the Metropolitan Asylums Board have purchased the Sutton Schools at a price 1004 of £203,000, and propose to transfer the improvable children from Darenth Asylum to the boys' and infants' blocks; whether the Local Government Board have assented to this expenditure for this purpose; how many children these blocks will accommodate; and whether the Local Government Board are advised that the strong recommendations of the Departmental Committee on Defective and Epileptic Children, that no more than twenty children should be accommodated in one home, can safely be neglected in this case; if not, whether he proposes to take any steps to see that the recommendations are not neglected.
§ MR. CHAPLINThe Metropolitan Asylums Board have agreed to purchase the property referred to, and the necessary Order will shortly be issued by the Local Government Board. It is believed that the Asylums Board contemplate using the infants' block for the reception of improvable imbecile children; but the scheme has not yet been formally submitted to the Local Government Board. The exact accommodation in the blocks in question cannot yet be stated, but the Committee of the Asylums Board, who visited them, estimated that the infants' block would accommodate 250, and the boys' block 450 imbeciles. The Local Government Board are advised that the premises can be rendered suitable for the proposed purpose, but the details have not yet been settled. It must be borne in mind that the children at Darenth are certified imbeciles, and are not defective children of the kind to which the Report of the Departmental Committee mentioned in the question related.