§ 34. Mr. WHYTEasked the Secretary for Scotland whether he will publish an explanatory statement showing, in a form more intelligible to the man in the street than the phraseology of Parliamentary Bills, the changes in lunacy administration in Scotland which will be effected by the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Bill; and whether he can state the probable number of mental defectives for whom provision must be made during the first full year of the operation of the measure?
Mr. McKINNON WOODIf I am right in supposing my hon. Friend to refer to Part V. of the Bill, I think the respective 1420 Clauses in that part are so drawn as to make their intention sufficiently clear. The greater number of them have been taken from Lord Pentland's Bill of 1911, and are, therefore, familiar to those interested in lunacy administration. If my hon. Friend is in doubt as to any particular Clause or Clauses I shall be glad to communicate with him on the subject. I regret that it is impossible for me to state with any confidence the number of defectives for whom provision will have to be made.
§ Mr. WHYTEMay I ask whether the figures given by the Home Secretary include the number in Scotland?