§ 32. Mr. RAMSAY MACDONALDasked if the Secretary of State for the Home Department will state when the Lunacy Commissioners inquired into the complaint regarding the treatment of Mrs. Haynes in Camberwell House, and the circumstances connected with her being certified as a lunatic; whether the inquiry included an interview with her husband, who alleges that his consent to her detention was obtained under false representations; and whether his attention has been drawn to a statement made by the secretary of Camberwell House that, so far as his knowledge goes, no such inquiry has ever been made?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. McKenna)The Lunacy Commissioners inform me that they made inquiries in July, 1910, after the discharge of Mrs. Haynes to her husband's care, and that they received a letter from Mr. Haynes saying that his wife had improved greatly, and making no complaint either as to the treatment of Mrs. Haynes in Camberwell House or as to the circumstances connected with her certification as a lunatic. More than a year later Mrs. Haynes called on the Lunacy Commissioners and made some general complaints with regard to what she alleged was her illegal detention in 1910. She subsequently asked to be supplied with copies of the detention documents in her case, which were given to her on 11th October, 1911. It was not until November, 1911, that any complaint was made by Mr. Haynes; but as Mr. Haynes had allowed more than a year to elapse without making any complaint, as he could have withdrawn his wife at any time from Camberwell House, as the papers in connection with the patient's reception were in order, and as it was quite incredible that Mr. Haynes did not know what he was doing when he signed the petition, the Commissioners considered it unnecessary to take any 1472 further action. The Commissioners cannot say whether the secretary of Camberwell House was aware of the inquiries they made of the superintendent or not.