§ Mr. KINGasked the Home Secretary (1) whether he is aware that twelve lunatic asylums have been handed over to the War Office, and that as a result the work of the Lunacy Commissioners has been largely curtailed; whether corresponding economies have been effected, either by reducing the number of Lunacy Commissioners or in the estimated expenditure on this class; and whether these economies, if effected, will lessen the care and chance of cure of those mentally afflicted; and (2) whether he can make some statement as to the work of the Mental Deficiency Commissioners; whether their work, as contemplated, has been impeded or restricted by circumstances arising out of the War; and, if so, whether any reduction in the numbers, emoluments, staffs, or expenditure of these Commissioners has been correspondingly achieved?
Mr. H. SAMUELI will answer these two questions together. They both relate to the same body, the Board of Control, in which the Lunacy Commissioners have been merged. The work of the Board in carrying out the Mental Deficiency Act has been seriously checked by the restriction of capital expenditure caused by the War. They have been unable, for this reason, to press local authorities to provide new institutions for defectives, but a good deal of useful work has been done in other directions, such as providing for the supervision of defectives at their homes. On the other hand, the work of the Commissioners in connection with lunacy has been increased rather than diminished by the handing over of lunatic1744W asylums for use as war hospitals. The concentration of patients into a smaller number of asylums has not diminished their number, has demanded even closer supervision than formerly, and has involved difficult administrative and financial arrangements. Two of the Commissioners have, at the request of the War Office, undertaken the continuous supervision of the war hospitals scheme, and have thus, to a large extent, been withdrawn from their ordinary functions. Another Commissioner and one of the inspectors have been absent on military duty since the beginning of the War, and more than half the clerical staff have joined the forces. The expenditure of the Board has been reduced in many directions, and the estimates for the coming year will show a large reduction.