N. B.—A TABLE, and INDEX, to the PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS passed in this Session, 0000 A BIL L For the erection of District Asylums in Scotland, for the I 2 Note.-The Figures in the Margin denote the Number of the Folios in the written Copy. HERCAS great Distress has been experienced in that part Preamble of the United Kingdom called Scotland, from the want of fit Places wherein to confine and take care of fatuous and furious Persons: And whereas this has happened chiefly in the case of such destitute fatuous and furious Persons, as have no means whereby they may be maintained: And whereas it is expedient that provision should be made to remedy these evils, by the erection of Asylums, in the manner hereinafter directed; Scotland diFour Dis vided into tricts; Be it therefore Enacted by The KING's Most Excellent MAJESTY, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, THAT for the purposes of this Act, that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland shall be divided into Four Districts; and the Counties and Stewartries thereof shall be classed and comprised in these Districts, as follows; videlicet, First, Edinburgh, comprising the Counties of Edinburgh, Haddington, Linlithgow, Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, Fife and Kinross ; Second, Glasgow, comprising the Counties of Lanark, Ayr, Renfrew, Dumfries, Wigion, Kirkcudbright, Dunbarton, Argyll, Stirling and Clackmanan; Third, Aberdeen, comprising the Counties of Aberdeen, Forfar, Kincardine and Banff; Fourth, Inverness, comprising the Counties of Inverness, Elgin, Nairn, Ross, Cromarty, Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney; and in each of these Districts, an Asylum or Place for the reception and care of fatuous and furious or insane to he erected A 7. an Asylum Persons, in each. Persons, with accommodation for their Medical and other Attendants, in the Third District and in the Fourth District And be it Enacted, That within after the passing of this Act, a General Meeting shall be held in And be it Enacted, That within calendar Months after the passing of this Act, the said District Commissioners shall meet at such time and place within their District as they shall and may agree upon among themselves, for the purpose of considering of a proper site for the erection of a Lunatic Asylum or Place for the reception and care of fatuous and furious or insane Persons in such District, in the manner directed by this Act; and of directing Advertisements for Plans and Estimates thereof, if a new Erection shall be necessary; or of converting into such Asylum or Place for such reception and care, any Building which may be found in such District. fit for such purpose; and such District Commissioners shall have power, and are hereby authorized to adjourn from time to time, and to hold such Meetings at such times and places as they shall think fit, for the purpose of executing the powers and duties committed to them by this Act. And be it Enacted, That at such Meeting the said District Commissioners shall name person to be a General Commissioner for the purposes of this Aet: provided always that such person shall be a Freeholder or a Justice of the Peace in some County or Stewartry in the District for which he is appointed; which persons so named, together with two persons to be named by His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Home Department (which two persons such Secretary of State is hereby empowered and required to name) shall be General Commissioners for carrying this Act into execution. 4 And 5 6 after And be it Enacted, That the said General Commissioners shall meet at Edinburgh, upon the the passing of this Act, and may adjourn from time to time, and meet thereafter at such times and as often as shall be found necessary for the purposes of this Act; and shall and may elect a Preses or Chairman of their Meetings; and at every Meeting, in case of an equality of voices, the Preses or Chairman, besides his vote as a Member of the Meeting, shall also have a casting vote. And be it Enacted, That after having determined upon the situation and description of a Lunatic Asylum or Place for the reception and care of fatuous and furious or insane Persons, in any District, the District Commissioners by whom the same shall have been so determined, shall transmit, or cause to be transmitted, an Account thereof, with the Plans appertaining thereto, to the General Commissioners appointed by this Act. And be it Enacted, That before transmitting an Account or Description of such Lunatic Asylum or Place for the reception and care of fatuous and furious or insane Persons, so fixed upon in any District, with the Plans thereof, to the said General Commissioners, it shall and may be lawful for the said District Commissioners, to submit the same to any General Meeting of Commissioners of Supply, to be called in any or each of the respective Counties or Stewartries comprised in such District, in the manner in which such General Meetings are held in Counties or Stewartries in Scotland; and it shall and may be lawful for any such County or Stewartry, to require that such Account or Description with such Plans and Estimates, shall be submitted to a General Meeting of such County or Stewartry, before the same shall be transmitted to the said General Commissioners; and it shall and may be lawful for such General Meeting to come to such Resolution or Resolutions thereupon, as to such General Meeting shall appear proper, either for the consideration of the said District Commissioners or of the said General Commissioners. First Meeting of General Commis sioners. Accounts and transmitted to General Com Plans to be missioners ; and submitted to General Meetings. And be it Enacted, That as soon as conveniently may be after Commissionreceiving such Account and Description from any District, the said into sufficiency ers to inquire General Commissioners shall consider the same, and whether the of Asylums. Asylum will be sufficient as well in respect of accommodations as of size and dimensions, for the reception comfort and cure of all the fatuous and furious or insane Persons that ought to be received therein, and shall notify to the said District Commissioners what shall appear to them thereupon, and shall and may have such communications with such District Commissioners as to the said General Commissioners shall appear necessary; and the said District Commissioners shall and may have such communications with the said General Commissioners as they shall deem necessary, for the purpose of settling what will be a proper Lunatic Asylum or Place for the reception and care of fatuous and furious or insane Persons in such 7. District; For making For transmit of Returns of Number of Persons to be placed in Asylums. District; provided always, that the said General Commissioners shall finally determine the same. And be it Enacted, That as soon as the Description and Plan of any District Asylum shall have been so finally determined, the said General Commissioners shall notify the same to the District Commissioners of the District in which the same shall be situated; and the said District Commissioners shall thereupon proceed to make Contracts or Agreements for the building or altering such Asylum, as the case may be, and of fitting the same for the reception and care of fatuous or furious or insane Persons, as soon as conveniently may be. And be it Enacted, That for the purpose of enabling as well ting Abstracts the said District Commissioners as the said General Commissioners, 7 to ascertain and determine the number of fatuous and furious or insane Persons, for whose reception and care a proper Place ought to be provided in each District, Abstracts of all the Returns which have been made in consequence of an Address to His Royal Highness The Prince Regent, from either House of Parliament, of fatuous and furious Persons in any Parish or Place in Scotland, shall be transmitted or caused to be transmitted, by His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, both to the said District Commissioners and to the said General Commissioners; and if further information shall be necessary, it shall and may be lawful either for the said District Commissioners, or for the said General Commissioners, to require from the Minister and Kirk Session of any Parish or Place in Scotland, and upon such requisition every such Minister and Kirk Session is and are hereby directed, to furnish all such informations regarding fatuous and furious or insane Persons within their respective Parishes or Places, as either of the said Commissioners may require. For apportioning Expenses. For sending And be it Enacted, That as soon as the Place and Description of any such Lunatic Asylum or Place for the reception and care of fatuous and furious or insane Persons shall have been settled, the said District Commissioners shall apportion the Expense thereof among the different Counties or Stewartries comprised in such District, in proportion to the Population of each County or Stewartry in such District, according to the Returns made pursuant to an Act passed in the Fifty-first year of the reign of His present Majesty, intituled, "An Act for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, "and of the Increase and Diminution thereof." And be it Enacted, That upon the Proportions being ascertained which are to be borne by each County or Stewartry, of the Expense of providing a suitable Asylum for the purposes of this Act, for the District within which such Counties or Stewartries shall be comprised, the said District Commissioners shall send or cause to be sent a Duplicate of the Account of such Expense approved of by them, and of the Apportionment thereof made by them as aforesaid, to the Clerk of Supply 8 |
