The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-07 00:00:00

SYRI 3.

Dc. BOWRING postponed the question of which he had
given notice, on the subject of Syria, to Tuesday neat.

,
SALMON PISIIERIES BILL.

The Salmon Fisheries Bill was committed pro forma, and
ordered to be re-committed on Wednesday week.
JUSTICES' CLERKS RILL.

On the motion of Sir J. GRAHAM, the Committee on the
Justices' Clerks and Clerks of the Peace Bill was postponed to
this day week.

LUNAIIC BILLS.

Lerd ASHLEY then rose to move for leave to bring in two
fcr the regula'ion of the care and treatment of insane
rrsons in England and \Vales. The Noble Lord, who spoke
in such a low tone of voice as to be frequently altogether in-
audible, was understood to say that he felt it necessary to preface
his motion by a few preliminary observations. He proposed to
repeal all the existing Acts, and to subs'itute for them other
measures, containing those alterations and amend-
ments which time had rendered necessary. In

order to prevent misconception, he would at once
distinctly state that his measure related to England and Wales,
and not to either Scotland or Ireland. He should be glad if

they did—(" Hear, hear," from Mr. Fox :Mule )—for he was
sure that there was not one civilised spot in Europe in which
lurtatic paupers were in so degraded a condition as in Scotland.
He proposed dividing the lunatic asylums of this country into
classes. Under the old act of Geo. 111., no power was given
of discharging officers or patients who might have become sane,
and no return was kept of the state of the asylums. Great
amendments had been made in that Act. Since last year
the opinion which he had expressed that great abuses prevailed
in those asylums, had been confirmed by experience. No
doubt, great abuses did prevail, and would prevail, in such
institutions ; and, although they could not wholly remove those
evils, they might go much further than they had hitherto gone.
Ie the first place, he should propose the establishment of a per-
manent Commission, by which they would secure the entire
arid exclusive serv:ces of persons conversant with the condi-
tion of lunatics. By appointing such a commission they
would do a great deal mare for the proper management of those
asylums than any other steps which they could take. He proposed
to place lunatic hospitals under the same r- gulations as county
asylums, with prov:senis for the proper security of pauper lunatics.
They would likewise take powers for the commissioners to
authnrise the admission of friends of lunatics into lunatic asy-
. lurns. They should likewise enforce true returns of
all single patients; and a private Committee would
be appointed to visit the houses in which single
patients were confined; and he might just remark that
this provision was quite in conformity with the French law.
They would likewise take the power, which did not exist at
present, but which experience had proved to be necessary,
namely, a power enabling the Lord Chancellor to protect the
property of lunatics, against whom commissions might
be issued. These were the provisions and amend-
ments contained in the Metropolitan Act. The second
13,11 which he should hare the honour to propose
to he House was founded upon the report of last year, and re-
lated to the treatment of county lunatics ; and he
thought tliat he would not have much difficulty -in
persuading the House to pass the Bill. • He would
not repeat at length the evidence which he had
• read last )ear. But he would touch generally upon some of
the leading points. There were forty counties in England,
. and there were but sixteen county asylu.ne, and of these several
were in a most discreditable condition. In the sixteen asylums
there was one which had eight hundred patients. One had
. six hundred lunatics, another had five hundred, and several had
more than three hundred. It was found, also, that most of
the patients were incurable, and that a preference was given
always to recent cases. in consequence of the deficiency of
county asylums, lunatics were placed in the union workhouses.
•In Redruth workhouse there were forty lunatics. In Birming-
ham there were seventy-one, and in the workhouses of England
and Wales there was a total of 1,339 lunatics, who were
under no sort of care whatever.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.")
Let them now take the condition of the pauper lunaticip in the
borough of Dartmouth, and they were not in any degree better
. circumstanced than the cases he had already referred to. It
had been proved that the magistrates had not visited
the asylum there for above a year. In 1814 the con-
dition of that asylum was again reported, and the state
=of the paupers in that year was as bad as in former times.
Again, within the last six years, their condition had been made
known, and it was found so wretched that a communication had
to be made by the board to the magistrates of the county.
Many lunatic asylums, he was happy to say, exhibited an
honourable exception, but others were altogether intolerable,
• and how could it be otherwise when paupers were taken in,
and but an inadequate pittance paid for their support.—
(Hear, hear.) If such were the case, it was but a
necessary consequence that they should not be allowed
more than a mere subsistence. He would now refer to the
twough of Tynemouth, and read to the House an extract
from the report made relative to the condition of the paupers
there.ai_ Thu . Noble Lord then 'referred to the case of
of ma
and•l oells in proof of the dreadful state
wretchedness of the lunatics there.
- With reiret to the amendments he proposed to introduce he
- would briefly refer to them.. Its would propose to convert the
Ast'from a voluntary
Zs; a H
compulsory one, and that every
• county where no asylum tpresent existed should be obliged
to provide one. He wouldaassiirate the practice to the
system which existed in France
nroedgaristdritcott Laehseichunhfadortnuontaitets
creatures. In that country there wwut
T
asylum. Counties where an asylum a
unite with those where there was none.t present existed should
iz e general rules for
the regulation of the asylum should be submitteds to the
Secretary of State for his approval ; and
living in the house, should be perioclilica
lunatics, not
The Noble Lord then referred to the regulations
which • which related to the pauper lunatics, and
to comment on the other provisions of his Bill. The
Noble Lord proceeded to cite a number of returns, to
show that the existing asylums were wholly insufficient to ac-
commodate the patients of the country, and the consequence
was, be said, that many hundreds of lunatics became
incurable, who would have been easily recovered had
they been properly treated in the first instance. He also
quoted the opinion of Dr. Winslow, to show that in nine
eases out of ten lunatics were easily recovered, if
they were subjected to proper treatment three
months after the appearance of the disorder.
He knew this was an exceedingly dry and uninteresting sub
ject, but he would not detain the House very long with them—
he would merely give a few details. The Asylum at Hanwell
had cost 156,000/., or at the rate of 160/. per
head, for every patient it contained. The Surrey
Asylum cost e5,000L, or, at a cost per head equally
large, and so on with the Others. Now, it was his opinion,


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