§ Mr. R. RICHARDSONasked the Minister of Health in how many cases of persons admitted during the five years 1913 to 1917, inclusive, to St. Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, as voluntary boarders, with three months' fees paid in advance by a relative, has the manager, before the expiration of the 14 days within which the petitioner must have seen the person for whom he petitions, under Section 3, Sub-section (2), of the Lunacy Act, 1890, applied to this relative for a petition; in how many cases has the manager so applied without receiving any order or authorisation from the Board of Control under Section 20 of the Lunacy Act, 1821, to do so; in how many such cases has the boarder, during the days preceding certification, been kept in bed, with day clothes removed, in a ward for certified lunatics; and will he take the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown as to whether such treatment of voluntary boarders in registered hospitals, to whom the provisions of the Lunacy Act, 1890, safeguarding boarders in private asylums are declared by the Board of Control to be inapplicable, contravenes the fundamental Section 315 of the Lunacy Act, 1890?
§ Mr. WHEATLEYThe necessary inquiries are being made, and I will furnish the hon. Member with a reply as soon as practicable.