§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, in view of the fact that in the past there has been no difficulty in securing gentlemen in Scotland to undertake the duties of Chairman of the Scottish Lunacy Board without salary, fee, or remuneration beyond travelling expenses, will he state why it is proposed to pay the present chairman; does he propose that all public services in Scotland hitherto honorary shall in future be remunerated; and, seeing that the late chairman of the board gave his services gratuitously, will he say whether any efforts were made to secure the services of an honorary chairman prior to the appointment of the present chairman.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe assumption contained in the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question is not accurate. The Lunacy Board for Scotland remains as it was constituted in 1857, and consists of one unpaid commissioner who acts as chairman of the Board, two medical commissioners who are paid, and two legal commissioners who are unpaid. The duties are now far more onerous, and there is difficulty, of which the hon. Member appears to be unaware, in getting unpaid members. The proposal in the Bill presently before the House is to enable payment to be made to a limited extent to the members of the Commission hitherto unpaid, and is not confined to the chairman. The reply to the second paragraph of the hon. Member's question is in the negative, and to the third, in the affirmative.