§ LORD ST. LEONARDSrose to ask whether Her Majesty's Government had any intention to erect asylums for criminal lunatics? In regard to the administration of the effects of lunatics, a more perfect system than the English was not anywhere to be found. The laws which had been passed in reference to that subject, and the mode in which they had been put into operation, left very little to desire. But there was one very important part of the system which had been left unprovided, and it was to that that he now desired to direct their Lordships' attention. 336 Under the existing system a prison frequently became what it was never intended to be—an asylum for lunatics; and he considered that, as it was improper to convert a prison into an asylum, so it was improper to make an asylum a prison, for the rules and regulations of the one and the other were altogether different. He was aware that he might be met by a statement on the part of the Government that at present they did not contemplate the erection of buildings to be used as asylums for criminal lunatics; and under the pressure of the war, perhaps, it might be impossible to provide new buildings for the safe custody of such persons: but whenever new asylums were erected an important question would arise as to the classification of the persons who became inmates of those asylums. He thought, if the Government would consult the Commissioners in Lunacy and the medical authorities who were at the head of public establishments for lunatics in this country, that, with the advantage of their experience, a plan for the erection and conduct of those asylums might be adopted, and a system of classification might be arranged, which might be introduced whenever asylums for criminal lunatics were built.
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, he must admit that a great evil existed in regard to criminal lunatics, and that it was most desirable that proper accommodation should be provided for the safe custody of criminal lunatics, and that arrangements should be made for their classification. He was happy to state that the subject was under the consideration of the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Home Department, though he (Earl Granville) was not able to give a pledge that the Government could immediately carry into effect any plan for affording the requisite accommodation. The question was, indeed, entirely one of money, and was for the consideration of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the House of Commons.