§ 64. Mr. KINGasked the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the present crowded state of asylums and of the existing unfair differentiation against the claims put forward by the relatives of pauper patients, an compared with the claims which can be put forward by the relatives of private, or paying, patients, he will cause to be posted near the entrance to the observation wards in all Poor Law infirmaries the terms of Section 22 of the Lunacy Act, 1890, which provides that a friend or relative of the alleged lunatic may, previous to certification, claim that the pauper patient be delivered over to their custody, assuming the responsibility in regard to his being no longer chargeable to any union, and being prevented doing harm to himself or others; and is he aware that in the majority of such cases the relatives are wholly ignorant of the terms of this Section, and that it has in consequence become a dead letter?
§ Mr. S. WALSHMy right hon. Friend will consult the Secretary of State as to the desirability or otherwise of adopting the hon. Member's suggestion.