§ MR. P O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)On behalf of the honourable Member for Wicklow, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been recently called to the statistics of insanity; whether he is aware that an increase in the actual numbers of registered insane from 55,525 to 132,831 has taken place between the the years 1862 and 1896, and an increase in the ratio of insane to population from 1.81 to 3.33 per 1,000 during the same period; and, whether he will cause an inquiry to be made into the subject to ascertain if any means can be devised to arrest the spread of the disease.
§ SIR M. WHITE RIDLEYI am aware that the numbers of the registered insane do, most unfortunately, increase. At the same time, I would refer the honourable Member to the Special Report of the Lunacy Commissioners, published in 1897, on the subject, and I cannot say that at present I see sufficient ground for directing further special investigation.