Commencement. 2. This Order shall come into operation on the fifteenth day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-five. Short Title. 3. This Order may be cited as the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Amendment) Order of 1925 (No. 2). In witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries is hereunto affixed this first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-five. (L.S.) J. Jackson, Authorised by the Minister. MINISTRY OF HEALTH, Circular 609. Whitehall, S. W. 1. 2nd July, 1925. SIR, I am directed by the Minister of Health to state that he has had occasion to review the administration of relief to casuals so far as regards the tasks which casuals are required to perform, and has arrived at the conclusion that the associations connected with the task of oakum picking make it undesirable that resort should in future be had to this task. The Minister accordingly hereby directs that the Casual Poor (Relief) Order, 1925, shall have effect as if all reference to the task of oakum picking were omitted from the Fourth Schedule to that Order. The Minister realises that in certain areas difficulty has been found in providing a substitute for this task, but I am to draw the attention of the Guardians to the alternatives prescribed in the Order and to their power of submitting for the approval of the Minister tasks of a kind which can conveniently be carried out in their institution. It is necessary that any proposal of this kind should include a precise definition of the proposed task, and the Minister is of opinion that the task should, wherever practicable, he measured by time, and not by reference to a quantity of material to be dealt with by the casual. The attention of the Minister has been called to a suggestion made in certain quarters that the wording of the Fourth Schedule to the Order empowers a master to impose an unlimited task upon a casual detained for one night only. The Minister does not think that the Order has been generally so interpreted, but as the question has been raised he thinks it desirable that the words "not. . . less than " should be omitted from the last line of this schedule, which would then read "the task shall be one-third of the amount prescribed above," and he hereby directs that the Order shall be so modified. The Clerk to the Guardians. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, Assistant Secretary. Circular 610. MINISTRY OF HEALTH, Whitehall, S.W. 1. 16th July, 1925. SIR, I am directed by the Minister of Health to state that it has been represented to him by the Board of Control that, looking to the growth of the population and to the corresponding increase in the numbers of the insane, there is ground for thinking that very shortly there will be serious pressure upon the existing accommodation in institutions provided under the Lunacy Acts, and that it is necessary that further accommodation should be made available in the near future. In view of the expense involved in building at the present time and the undesirability of diverting building labour and materials for this purpose, the Board of Control has addressed to the Visiting Committees a circular letter making certain suggestions in the matter and requesting inter alia that the Visiting Committees will explore, with the Boards of Guardians acting in their area, the possibility of making some further use, under Section 25 and Section 26 of the Lunacy Act, '1890, of institutions provided by the Boards of Guardians. Section 25 authorises the detention in a workhouse of a person who is discharged not recovered from an asylum if the medical officer of the workhouse certifies, in writing, that the accommodation in the workhouse is sufficient for the lunatic's proper care and treatment separate from the inmates of the workhouse not lunatics, or that the lunatic's condition is such that it is not necessary for the convenience of the lunatic, or of the other inmates, that he should be kept separate. Section 26 authorises an arrangement, with the consent of the Minister and the Board of Control, between the Visitors of an Asylum and the Guardians for the reception in the workhouse of chronic lunatics, not being dangerous, who are in an asylum and have been selected and certified by the Medical Superintendent as proper to be removed to the workhouse. In a case where arrangements are made under Section 26 the lunatic continues to be a patient on the books of the asylum, and the arrangements made may provide for the payment by the Visiting Committee of the whole cost incurred by the Guardians for the reception and maintenance of the lunatic. In accordance with the suggestions made by the Board of Control to the Visiting Committees it is to be expected that the Guardians will, in the near future, be approached by the Visiting Committees in this matter, and the Minister is sure that they will discuss the questions arising with every desire to assist the Visiting Committee in their difficulties. Should there be suitable spare accommodation available in their institution the Guardians would thus, be enabled to make good use of it by entering into an arrangement under Section 26, and they would further be able to secure the advantage of the assistance, as consultants, of the expert medical staff of the asylum. It is recognised that it would generally be necessary to make certain alterations in any vacant accommodation for the purpose of making it suitable for the reception of transferred lunatics and that the Guardians would have to engage additional and trained staff for this purpose, but the cost of the alterations and of the additional staff would fall to be defrayed, under the arrangements made, by the asylum authorities. It is the intention of the Board of Control that regional conferences shall in due course be held to consider the extension of accommodation, and it will be arranged that Guardians who are able to assist in the matter shall be represented at those conferences if they so desire. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, The Clerk to the Guardiaus. Assistant Secretary. STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS, 1925, No. 76. LUNACY, ENGLAND. REGULATION, DATED JANUARY 7, 1925, MADE BY THE BOARD OF CONTROL UNDER SECTION 40 (6) OF THE LUNACY ACT, 1890 (53 & 54 VICT. c. 5) AS TO INSTRUMENTS AND APPLIANCES FOR THE MECHANICAL RESTRAINT OF LUNATICS. Lunacy Act, 1890, Section 40. " (1.) Mechanical means of bodily restraint shall not be applied to any lunatic unless the restraint is necessary for purposes of surgical and medical treatment, or to prevent the lunatic from injuring himself or others. (2.) In every case where such restraint is applied a medical certificate shall, as soon as it can be obtained, be signed, describing the mechanical means used, and stating the grounds upon which the certificate is founded. (3.) The certificate shall be signed, in the case of a lunatic in an institution for lunatics or workhouse, by the medical officer thereof, and in the case of a single patient, by his medical attendant. "(4.) A full record of every case of restraint by mechanical means shall be kept from day to day; and a copy of the records and certificates under this section shall be sent to the Commissioners at the end of every quarter. 66 (5.) In the case of a workhouse, the record to be kept under this section shall be kept by the medical officer of the workhouse, and the copies of records and certificates to be sent shall be sent by the clerk to the guardians. "(6.) In the application of this section mechanical means ' shall be such instruments and appliances as the Commissioners may, by regulations to be made from time to time, determine. (7.) Any person who wilfully acts in contravention of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanour." Regulation. In pursuance of sub-section 6 of the above section of the Lunacy Act, 1890, the Board by this regulation under their common seal, do hereby determine that mechanical means |