§ MR. WOLFF (Belfast, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the inspectors of lunatic asylums in Ireland have frequently in their reports for some years past urged the necessity of providing additional accommodation for pauper lunatics in Belfast; and whether a suitable site has been secured and plans for a new asylum have been completed two years ago and approved by the board of control and the governors of the lunatic 1273 asylum, and why the building has not yet been begun, although the inspectors now urge for the additional accommodation.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. G. W. BALFOUR)The reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. As regards the second paragraph, the Board of Control having been abolished by the provisions of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, it was deemed advisable to defer the erection of the new building until the Asylum Committee, to whom the functions of the late board of control were transferred, came into office. The Committee recently consulted an independent expert in asylum architecture with regard to the plans, and his report is now under their consideration.