Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary whether he was aware that in the Omagh district asylum the attendants have to go on duty at six o'clock a.m. and remain until eight o'clock at night, having to work fourteen hours daily, in addition to which on two nights in the week they have to remain on duty until ten o'clock p.m.; whether these officials have frequently made representations to the committee but without effect; whether the inspectors have the power to insist on reasonable hours of service in consequence of the grant from the Government; and whether he will take steps to see that the inspectors insist on more reasonable hours being worked by the attendants in that institution?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI understand that the facts are practically as stated, save that the attendants' hours of duty are somewhat shorted in winter. The hours of duty in Omagh Asylum are not, as I am informed, longer than in most other asylums. The power of prescribing the attendants' duties is vested by law in the committee of management, and the inspectors of lunatics cannot interfere save in extreme cases affecting the proper maintenance of the inmates of an asylum.