§ MR. CREAN (Queen's Co., Ossory)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, since January 1897, criminal lunatics to the number of twenty-six have been transferred to the Cork District Lunatic Asylum; and whether it is legal to transfer criminal lunatics to district lunatic asylums; and, if so, should they be chargeable on the rates.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. G. W. BALFOUR)Since January, 1897, twenty-eight criminal lunatics have been transferred to the Cork District Lunatic Asylum. They were nearly all cases of short sentence, and ceased to be criminal lunatics properly speaking within a very short time—usually not more than a few weeks—of their transfer. It is legal to transfer such lunatics to district asylums under the provisions of the Acts 1 Vic. cap. 27, and 38 and 39 Vic. cap. 67, s. 13. When so transferred, one-half the cost of their maintenance, approximately, is paid by the Imperial Exchequer; the balance only falls on the local rates.
§ MR. ATKINSONCertainly.