§ The EARL of SHAFTESBURYsaid, he trusted that their Lordships would allow him, having been unavoidably absent from the discussion, to say a few words in respect of the Lunacy Bills which passed through the Report on Tuesday evening. He was anxious to express his sincere thanks to the noble and learned Lord (Lord St. Leonards) for the trouble and attention he had devoted to those Bills, and to state his belief that they would greatly improve the law for the regulation of the property of lunatics, and for their care and treatment. He must again urge on the attention of the Government and the House the necessity of making some arrangements for the separation of criminal from other lunatics; the evil of confining them in one asylum and under one system was very great. He had no doubt of the benefits to be effected by the amendments of the law—he would, however, state his conviction, the result of many years' experience, that no control or superintendence would be effective so long as private asylums were permitted to exist—meaning by "private asylums" establishments into which lunatics were received for profit, and where the proprietor derived a positive gain from their insufficient treatment or prolonged detention. He 1222 feared that the public mind was hardly ripe for such a plan; it was, however, worthy of their Lordships' future consideration.