PORIRUA MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 644, 22 October 1909, Page 7

PORIRUA MENTAL HOSPITAL.

. ■■■ :'-', NEED FOR CLASSIFICATION. ' - ' Hogg, M.P., Vith ' Mr. "Edwin Arnold, J.P., official inspector,paid o visit-of . inspection to {ho.Porirua Mental Hospital on Wednesday. . They; were shown ail "over : tlio , institution by Mr. Barnes,- head attendant, and : Miss Ogilvip,- matron, The weather.being rotiflli, :• most of the patients were collected inside. "Wβ made a good inspection," said Mr. Hogg to a Dominion representative, ."of all the tventy-;ix . .day. rooms and sleeping chambers, hud con- 1 Ter66d: freely with the patients, some of whom I had seen some, years ago. The premises haves undergone a'good deal iof alteration, the laundry portion having been'particularly improved and supplied with , , thoroughly up-to-date machinery lor washing nnd ironing. As far as - : I.could sco the patients .were exceedingly well cared for.: The buildings themselves had been : thoroughly renovated,; employment being given 1 «> a number of painters during the depression by this, ineans. The repainting has been car- •.' ned.ont outside and inside, even to: the staircases; Cleanliness appeared to be everywhere scrupulously observed, and tho. bread baked in : the. establishment ivas equal, if not superior, ■■■■ to any in' the city, The patients have ■ the odi vantago:of. food, of the very ; .best quality; adu ■■ there is as fino a dairy herd as could : bo touiid in almost any part of the Wellington province. I saw the'.Jersey, and .Ayrshire ••cows, : und ■ they, seemed "to have simply the pick of aui■Jnals.": None of the patients ;I spoke-.to com- !'. plained of either diet or personal comfort. '.■"I-noticed, however, ;a.great-many Tery old . people, men and ; women from 60 to 85 years of ' age, and what suggested itself-to me! was .that ' they were, suffering from old age, and naturally wore feeble,buth physically and;mentally, but it. would-be wrong to torm them lunatics in ■ any shap'o or fornu. A good deal of the institu- ■'. tion partakes of the character of an old people's !■ homo, and, I think it is n! lamentable ttiiug i that old .'people .like that cannot be kept, apart ■ i'rpm thb other ininatcs, so that it should not be said that L they wero under mental treat- • rhent. What is really wanted is for a portion of the institution to bo converted into ,an . oH ; people's home. A partition could easily be i erected, so that these ' jioople ' should .be kept I apart ironi the other inmates." . •:•' : L ' '•.