§ Sir M. MACDONALDasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state, in view of the opinion of Lord Justice Atkin's Committee on insanity and crime, and of the accompanying memorandum of the Council of the British Medical Association, whether the similar recommendations made by the Departmental Committee on Prisons in April, 1895, to the effect that candidates for medical appointments in prisons should be required to show that 712W they have given special attention to lunacy, have ever been carried out; and will he furnish a return showing the experience in the treatment of insanity before appointments in prisons and criminal asylums?
Mr. DAVIESWhen candidates are selected for the appointment of medical officer, preference is always given to those who have had some experience of lunacy. Of the 24 whole-time medical officers now serving, 13 had asylum experience, and five had attended students' courses at asylums. As regards posts for part-time medical officers, these are filled by practitioners in the locality, and preference is given, wherever possible, to those who have had special experience of lunacy. The Medical Superintendent of Broadmoor Asylum and his deputy had had asylum experience before their appointment.