§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has received a copy of resolutions adopted by the Conference of Asylum Committees at a meeting held in Richmond Asylum on the 25th and 26th November last; and, if so, will he state whether he proposes to deal with the points raised.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham) The resolutions propose (1) an increase of the present capitation grant of 4s. per week in respect of the maintenance of each pauper lunatic; (2) an extension of the period for, and alteration of the conditions upon, which loans are made for asylum purposes; (3) the establishment of a central laboratory in connection with asylums; (4) the introduction of a system of boarding-out of persons of unsound 1016 mind; (5) the assimilation of the capitation grant payable in the case of patients maintained in auxiliary asylums established under Section 76 (1) of the Local Government Act, 1898, to that payable for patients in district asylums. In respect to (1), the amount of the grant in Ireland is the same as that payable in England and Scotland, and a proposal to increase it could only be considered in its application to the United Kingdom as a whole. Legislation would be necessary to give effect to the recommendations at (2), (4), and (5), and I am unable to undertake that such will be introduced during the present session. There are no funds available at present for the establishment of a central laboratory (3).