§ Mr. DAYasked the Minister of Health the number of lunatics in county and borough asylums, hospitals, or licensed houses at the last convenient date?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe number of insane patients on 1st January, 1929, in county and borough mental hospitals, registered hospitals, and licensed houses in England and Wales was as follows:
392WProvisions) Act, 1924, provides that, in approving proposals for the construction of houses, the Minister of Health shall not impose any conditions which would prevent the materials required being purchased in the cheapest market at home or abroad. The Government have, however, urged local authorities to arrange that all contracts for or incidental to works carried out by them should, in the absence of special circumstances, be placed in this country.