on them, we are in a condition to say that, on an average, one in every five or six, if not actually illegal, are irregular on some point or other; and thereon a lengthened correspondence commences. The truth is, magistrates frequently sign warrants of committal without seeing, as they are bound, the alleged lunatic, or making that strict inquiry which ought never be omitted, into the antecedents of each case.

Hence parties, when they become troublesome at home, from old age, bad temper, physical infirmities, and the like, find their way into prisons, provided that, being unsettled in their minds, relatives may depose to their insanity. Governors of gaols cannot or do not like to question magisterial authority, and so, as a matter of course, these individuals, no matter how tranquil or reasonable they may appear, are received by them as dangerous lunatics. We not unfrequently have found persons so committed, turned of sixty or seventy years of age, half-blind, decrepit, and in their dotage; and it has happened that some have been actually brought in a dying state, and under very painful circumstances, to gaol, as being dangerous to themselves or others. We do all we can to check the abuses of the Act which, if correctly administered, and with discrimination, we consider calculated as a temporary safeguard for the protection of society, as well as of the unhappy individuals themselves. Faulty though the results may be, and will continue to be, through inattention on the part of those whose duty it is to carry out the law in its true spirit, human life should not be imperilled by the abrogation of one statute till we have the means of guarding it through the operations of another.

If the party is a pauper maniac, clearly evincing dangerous and uncontrollable propensities, we cannot fairly object, in the absence of available hospital accommodation, to his friends taking advantage of the law, and to their applying to justices of the peace for his immediate security by a committal to gaol, in the expectation that thence he will be sent to an asylum for proper treatment; neither do we think that magistrates, when thoroughly informed as to particulars, should throw any impediments in the way, fully satisfied as we are that a prompt interference has prevented serious personal injury, and that a procrastination from one day to another has eventuated in the loss of life.

For example, and as a practical illustration, we shall assume a case, be it in a northern or southern district, at Sligo or Clonmel. A cottier farmer or labourer becomes suddenly and violently insane, having a family of three or four young children solely dependent on him for their means of subsistence. He lives fifty miles from the asylum; in the one case, the gaol of Carrickon-Shannon, in the other, that at Nenagh, lies much closer to his home, some thirty miles nearer; the wife has no one willing or able to take charge of him, neither has she wherewith to convey the lunatic to the asylum, a journey on foot, or in a common country car, of three entire days. She is consequently constrained to apply to the next magistrates for his committal, under the provisions of the Act. The police take charge of him, and he remains in prison till cured, or ceasing to be dangerous, is liberated by one of the committing justices, unless in the interim he may be removed to hospital by warrant of the lord-lieutenant. Thus, in extensive districts, and in such extreme cases, the statute may be regarded at present not only as a necessity, but, when judiciously carried out, a certain protection to life and property.

The treatment of lunatics in prison appears, on the whole, to be very

humane. Their dietary, which is not fixed, is generally left, by visiting boards of superintendence, to the discretion of the medical officers, who are at liberty to order for individual cases whatever they may deem advisable. So far as the limited capabilities of a gaol permit, we have reason to think that, as a class, a considerate attention is, for the most part, bestowed on them. They are placed immediately under the care of one of the warders, assisted, when necessary, by two or more prisoners or convicts, who, it is to presumed, are selected to the task for their good behaviour and intelligence. With regard to bedding, fuel, clothing, and other creature comforts, we have found them generally well supplied. The food is ample in quantity; but we could desire in some gaols more animal and vegetable nutriment, particularly for those any lengthened time in confinement. As a matter of course, in the absence of all means of classification, recourse is had in violent cases to handcuffs and similar mechanical appliances for coercion; and on some, but rare occasions, the mode even of their application appeared to us much too severe. We are not, however, disposed to attribute this so much to any intentional harshness, as to an ignorance on the part of persons uninstructed on the subject, and who, perhaps, themselves, having suffered violence from the insane, naturally dread their excitement.

The great and irremediable objection to the detention of lunatics in gaols arises from their liability to a continued confinement, in narrow cells and cheerless passages, without a single break to the monotony of their existence, while the yards, in which at best they can take but a scanty exercise, overhung by lofty walls, are drear and gloomy; thus the very residence itself, intended as a place of punishment for criminals. or of safe custody for prisoners, is calculated in many cases to render the disease more fixed and intractable.

There are six establishments not under the care of resident medical men, viz., the Retreat, Armagh; Bloomfield Retreat, county Dublin; Course Lodge, county Armagh; Lysle House, county Dublin; Riversdale Lodge, county Dublin; and St. Vincent's Asylum, county Dublin: these, however, are regularly visited by duly qualified and experienced physicians, in accordance with the 18th section of the Act.

The interior arrangements of many of the private asylums are now most satisfactory, alterations and additions having been made in them, at our suggestion, with the express object of providing suitable accommodation for the inmates. Mechanical restraint is now, we are glad to observe, not employed except in cases of extreme violence, and then only so long as may be necessary for the protection of the patients themselves. So far we have just reason to be content, for, contrasted with what it was some years back, one cannot fail to observe, in the present condition of private asylums, many salutary improvements, both as regards the general well-being and social comforts of the patients, and increased means for carrying into effect a proper system of classification.

The proprietors of Farnham House, Hampstead House, and Hartfield House, have provided distinct and separate establishments for the accommodation of females, an arrangement of which we cannot too highly approve, while St. Vincent's Asylum, Lysle House, Riversdale Lodge, Course Lodge, and Annebrook are exclusively devoted to the reception of female lunatics. The total number of females thus separately accommodated at present is eighty-four; and when the extensions now in progress at St. Vincent's are completed, there will be provision for a much larger number.

To this (the private asylum) branch of our department we pay unceasing attention, and our efforts have been productive of much good. We visit licensed houses very frequently, not alone for the purpose of inspecting the establishments themselves and their domestic arrangements, but of examining into the condition of the patients, and satisfying ourselves that no party shall be improperly or unnecessarily detained, or who is not a fit and proper person for confinement in an asylum.

The total number of lunatics in custody in private lunatic asylums on 31st March, 1861, was 513, namely, 267 males and 246 females. During the nine months, 157 were admitted-70 males and 87 females; making a total under treatment during that period of 670, 337 being males and 333 females; the discharged amounted to 131-57 males and 74 females; a considerable number of them, however, were but transferences from one asylum to another; of these 131, 60 were returned to our office as absolute recoveries-27 males and 33 females; 43 improved-25 males and 18 females; 25 not recovered or incurable-3 males and 22 females; 3 escaped -2 males and 1 female; two were brought back almost immediately after; the third, a colonel in her Majesty's service, we regret to say, committed suicide by drowning himself, and so determined was he to effect his purpose, that he filled his pockets with stones. His body was found in a quarrypit about a mile from the asylum. On its discovery, one of the inspectors proceeded to the asylum, and made special inquiry into all the circumstances of the case. It appeared that the lunatic had, while at exercise on the ground, eluded the vigilance of the attendants, and although followed, succeeded in escaping pursuit, owing, it is supposed, to having concealed himself amongst the thick hedge-rows in the neighbourhood, and which were in full leaf at the time. A coroner's inquest was held, and a verdict returned in accordance with the facts. This was the only death out of 24, the total mortality, referrible to suicide or accident, that occurred in private asylums during the period intervening between the 1st April and 31st December, 1861.

COPYHOLD COMMISSION.

Twentieth Report of the Copyhold Commissioners to her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Act 4 & 5 Vict. c. 35. s. 3.

DURING the present year there were 786 enfranchisements effected.

Besides these enfranchisements the commissioners received 369 applications, of which 62 are under the voluntary, and 307 under the compulsory, powers of the Acts. The commissioners reported that in the manor of Tiptofts, in Harston, in the county of Cambridge, they suspended the proceedings of a proposed compulsory enfranchisement, where enforcing the enfranchisement, under the peculiar position and circumstances of the present tenant's family, would, in their opinion, have produced such an especial hardship as is provided for by the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 61. They further reported that, in pursuance of the powers vested in them by "The Universities and College Estates Act, 1858," they authorized, during the

year 1861, twenty-one sales, four enfranchisements, fifteen purchases, one exchange, and two applications for raising money by way of mortgage.

The total number of enfranchisements and commutations from 1841 to 1861 was as follows: Clerical, 790; collegiate, 240; lay, 2433: total, 3463. The consideration for these 3463 enfranchisements was payment in full, 564,120l. 6s. 111⁄2d.; rent-charges, 4542l. 188. 11d.; land, 1379a. 1r. 18p. The number of enfranchisements increased yearly. In 1841 there was only 1; in 1842, 12; in 1843, 29; in 1844, 39; in 1845, 56; in 1846, 36; in 1847, 52; in 1848, 25; in 1849, 30; in 1850, 37; in 1851, 64; in 1852, 44; in 1853, 58; in 1854, 131; in 1855, 220; in 1856, 231; in 1857, 303; in 1858, 204; in 1859, 371; in 1860, 714; and in 1861, 786. The report was signed by the commissioners, Messrs. G. DARBY, H. C. MULES, and G. RIDLEY.

DUBLIN HOSPITALS.

Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Superintendence of Dublin Hospitals. THERE are in Dublin nine hospitals which receive grants from Parliament. During the year 1861, to which the report refers, the number of patients admitted in them was as follows:-Westmoreland Lock Hospital, 840; House of Industry hospitals-viz., the Hardwicke, Whitworth, and Richmond, 3345; Steevens' Hospital, 2395; Meath Hospital, 1054; Cork Street Fever Hospital, 1700; Rotunda Lying-in Hospital, 1141; Coombe Lyingin Hospital, 424; St. Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital, 223; Hospital for Incurables, 24.

INCLOSURE COMMISSION.

Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioners.

THE number of applications of all kinds since the passing of the Acts has been 3977. The number of cases during 1862 was 321, viz. :—Inclosures in 1862, 49-total, 990; exchanges in 1862, 251-total, 2746; partitions in 1862, 11-total, 121; conversions into regulated pasture in 1862, nil.— total, 2; division of intermixed lands in 1862, 3-total, 27; in reference to local Acts in 1862, 1-total, 46; definitions of lost boundaries in 1862, 5total 26; application of money received under Lands Clauses Consolidation or Railway Acts in 1862, 1-total, 14; to apportion fixed rents in 1862, nil.—total, 5. The average of inclosures confirmed was 424,971 acres ; and in progress, 207.109 acres. The average expense of the inclosure proceedings up to the time of the assents to the provisional orders was 15l. 148. 9d.

THAMES EMBANKMENT.

Copies of all Correspondence between the Treasury, the Office of Works, and the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues relating to the Thames Embankment and the Works proposed to be carried out under the Thames Embankment Bill; together with Copies of the Plans: And Copies of all Correspondence between the Treasury, the Office of Works, the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, and all other Correspondence relating to any Plans for facilitating the Passage of Traffic or opening better Communication between Whitehall and Bridge Street; together with Copies of such Plans. (The Earl of Doncaster.) 24th July, 1862. (226.)

In September, 1861, Mr. Charles Gore made a report to the Treasury on the plans for embanking the Thames within the metropolis, and gave his opinion that so much of the proposed scheme as contemplated a roadway 100 feet in width upon the embankment between Westminster Bridge and Whitehall Stairs is objectionable in several respects.

Firstly. Because it is calculated to be seriously detrimental to the interests of the Crown, its lessees, and tenants, upon the northern bank of the river, by carrying a public roadway upon the river frontage of the Crown property between Richmond Terrace and Whitehall Stairs.

Secondly. Because the commissioners were directed to report as to the measures to be adopted to "provide with the greatest efficiency and economy for the relief of the most crowded streets," and the proposed roadway on the embankment would tend to add to the present concourse of vehicles at a point where, according to the evidence given by Sir Richard Mayne to the commission, the present traffic is dangerous to members of Parliament and others going to the Houses of Parliament.

Thirdly. Because an alternative plan prepared by Mr. Pennethorne will more effectually provide for the public convenience by another line of roadway, which would not only be free from both of the serious objections above alluded to, but would also form a portion of the general improvement of the approaches to the Houses of Parliament that must sooner or later be carried into effect.

Mr. Gore favoured Mr. Pennethorne's plan, which proposed that the public roadway upon the embankment should leave it at Whitehall Stairs, and be carried through some houses belonging to the Crown unto Whitehall, opposite the Horse Guards. It also proposed to render Parliament Street capable of accommodating the traffic that now obstructs it, by removing the two blocks of houses that form the western side of that street, and the eastern side of King Street; and also to improve the access to Victoria Street, by an alteration in the way of laying out the gardens of New Palace Yard.