THE AUCKLAND MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1198, 5 August 1911, Page 3

THE AUCKLAND MENTAL HOSPITAL.

"A PTJBL[C SCANDAL!"'V'-P:.' Mr.. MAS.SBI,* Leader of tho Opposition, said he did not propose to deal with the Bill from a party point of view. .. Tho care of mental defectives was a duty recognised by all civilised countries. 'In this country it had been carried out in the past very badly. He .was not accustomed to pay much attention to rumours, but ha desired to direct attention to u telegram from Auckland which contained serious Mlegations c-onccrning tho Avondalo Mental Hospital. If these statements (published in another column) were correct, they disclosed a shocking stato of affairs, amounting to nothing less than a public scandal. He did not°dare to think of what would-happen if a firo occurred in ,y building so crowded with mental detectives. "I havo never read," said Mr. Massy,*, "of anything -worse—in fact, of anything so bad—in connection with any institution in tho Dominion. It is quite evident that tho Auckland Mental Hospital is grossly overcrowded, to such extent that the stato of things is dt'tnmental to the health of both patients and attendants. Tho idea cf what woiild happen m case of lire is enough to make one smidder. Tf ever there, was. a caso for a Royal Commission, this is one, and an inquiry regarding the conduct of ■ lie nsymm should be insisted upon by tms House, and by the country. (Hear, j Jiear.) 1 hope that the Minister willpromiso a Commission, which should bo. composed of experienced men—medical men if possible, but certainlv men who lave , had experience of the "working of i these mental hospitals." Mr. Mas=ey commented on the statement that the Minister had- visited tho asj-lum. Mr. t Massey said that he did not know who was l responsible for the article, but evidently t i 1 had been asked to visit the ; institution, as last resource, in order c to obtain some improvement, J

"If thoso People had Voles." • something exceedingly wrong with the administration of this Department, . Mr. Massey continued. "I should not bo inclined to blame the Minister if i! ,r . <,ls ! 10 ' .stated that the Minister saw tho institution three months ago, and that up to tho present nothing has bepn done. I cannot Jielp thinking that if these' people had votes, we should have paid, a Kre.it doil more attention to them than we have in tho past. It is almost impossible to expect that patients will be cured in such circiAnstancos." Mr. Massey said that ho had received a letter from ail individual who was formerly an inmate of the Auckland asylum, but had been discharged cured.' In that letter was the following sentence: r, The most wicked crinio in the present system is that of sending patients when they arrive into the refractory ward, which is. the nearest imago of hell ono can see upon earth." "There is evidently nothing in the way of a receiving house," added Mr. Massey. The Minister: "A place was speciallv built within the last twelve months."'' Mr. Massey: "Is it used for that purpose ■

The Minister: "It is used except in tho case of patients coming in in a wildly excited state." Jlr. Massey said he was glad ail improvement had been made in that, respect. He was about to say that it would be exceedingly unfair to send a patient who might be only temporarily insane among people who weio permanently insane. Mr. Mn'soy concluded his speech bv urging the appointment of a. l'oval Cuni-mis.-icn lo investigate the slate of affairs at the Auckland Asylum. Judgment Suspended, Mr, (J. M. THOMSON (Dunediii NortM said the reference which had beea made

lo (ho overcrowding of fho Auckland Asylum was one thill. th?y should not pass too rapid a judgment upon. Ho thought it scarcely necessary to accept the suggestion oi' Ihe Lender of the Opposition lo ss-t up a Koyul (Aiinmis'iiiii unless il were. donn with llie object of gaining informal ion as In the necessily of setting up additional institutions for the reception of some classes oi' mental defectives. An important fealuro of the Dill was tho elaborate provision made lor the treatment of minors. Treatment of mentally detective children would lead ultimately to a considerable diminution in the number of .defective adults. The idea that, these children could not be bcnt-lited by treatment was exploded. Special Committee Advocated. Mr. F. M. 13. FISIIEII (.Wellington Central) said that in jsomo respects legislation' should go furl her than the Hill before Dm House. In the period from IS7G to 1003 there were persons intermittently discharged from tho asylums, many of whom were discharged and admitted time after time. The sort of thing that this led to had been instanced during tlio previous session, when a petition had been received by a committee of tho Ilouso from a man who had been eight times discharged from lunatic asylums, and during that period had become tho father of some ten children, all of whom were more or less mentally defective. Why should not this Bill be submitted to a committee which could tako the evidence of expert witnesses and build up from tho information gleaned by a committee of the House in 190.")? Tho Minister was making provision in the Bill for allowing people who were intermittently insane. It was. admittedly a very difficult, problem to handle, anil beforo tho House was asked to placo a Bill of this character .upon the StatuteHook it would bo wiso to obtain tho best expert cvidcnco available. Claims of Attendants. Mr. W. H. FIELD (Otaki) stated that for a long time past a number' of members of whom he was one had been agitating for a sort of half-way house, a receiving home in which patients could be roughly classified beforo being consigned to an institution. Mr. Field expressed a. hope that, in tho case of tho big central hospital, land would 'bo 'selected which could bo farmed successfully by thoso mental defectives who were capablo of labour. If tho Minister , hoped- for success in tho management of the'mental hospitals', he. must recognise'that some improvement was' necessary in. tho conditions under wliich the staffs had to work. The .hours were long, salaries wcro . small, 'and holidays were few. Mr. E. H. TAYLOR. (Thames) said tho cost to the Stato should be a secondary matter. The first consideration shoulll : be tho welfare of the patients and their possible cure. An Alarming Increase. • Mr. G. LAURENSON (Lvttellon) drew attention to the alarming increase of insanity, in this country. In tho year .in he landed in this country there wcro /-IS insane in our asylums, roughly one in 530 of population. To-dav tlio-pro-portion of insane was'ono in 230 of population. The proportion of lunatics had moro than doubled in a little over 30 years. Thirty-four years ago tho number of patients in New Zealand asvlums who recovered • was 57.5G 'per cent. To-day it was -15.7-1 per cent, , Mr. .Fowlds interjected that this was in a new country. .There was 'an accumulation of incurable cases year after year. r Mr.-Laurenson" admitted-the validity of- ■ this view. Ho' 'was, surO' 1 , tlio. Minister would->tnke-into serious' consideration the necessity of bettering the conditions and increasing the payment, of asylum at- J tendants. •

: ,- u . r - 'V A- HAN AN ((Inyercargill) dealt at length with the caiibes that give rise t) insanity and produce mental defects. :He endorsed Mr. Fisher's suggestion that tho Bill should be referred to a special committee. ' Mr. E. H. CLAHIv (Port Chalmers) 'made a strong plea on' behalf of tho nsvlum attendants, claiming that they wei ; c entitled to much better conditions. !..w r v?i, .GRiwtotiJi-'cotttended' that a. Royal ( Commission, as suggested .by. the* Leader of tho Opposition, was unnecessary.' As to overcrowding it had been greatly mitigated during tho past two or • three years! Receiving institutions ' were tho most necessary of oil. .They had now been in vogue for two'.or three.years. - - ; - . , Al Deputation. ■ . . Mr. ; .L' BOLLARD (Eden) said - U considered, that the statements read by the Leader of the Opposition must be grossly exaggerated. Government members who had spoken of the hours aim payment of asylum attendants should have told, the House, that wheu together ,wi.th himself they, had waited iipo'ii the Minister as a- deputation that. morning, lie had given them every encouragement, and had promised'to do what he could .to improve the condition of the attendants. "It "would, take" V' revolution, said Mr. Bollard,' to .malro him.' a. . Government 'supporter,- but--he.beiitved-*in -fair play. ' Dr. TE "RANGIHIRQA. -..(Northern •Maori) remarked 'that insanity-was much loss in evidence among", the . Maoris than among Europeans; This was ono strong argument in favour' of not becoming too civilised. Most of the ''maniacs he had met amongst the Maoris had 'been affected with religious mania. He did not wish to say anything about religion, but, like other factors which' sometimes induced insanity in the Maoris, it had been introduced by tho whit,.- people.

Mr. M'LAItEN (Wellington EAst) said this country .had taken on too much of the rush of civilisation. A result of the struggle for existence and rush for tho possession of wealth was a terrible increase of neurasthenia. A cause of'mental defects which deserved attention was tho excessive strain encountered in some special industries.

■ Mr. T. E. Y. SEDDON (Wcstland) complained that members who would linvo liked to attend tlio deputation to tho Minister that morning had not' been invited to take part. Tho Minister was facing a very big problem indeed and ho .with other members v.-onld' be glad tp lend all possiblo assistance. Mr. WITTY staled, in a personal explanation, that , he, in. common with other members -who - had mental'hospitals in their districts, Lad been invited to attend tho deputation to the Minister. It was not his fault that the member for Westland had not: been invited. The Minister in Reply. The Hon. G. I'OWLDS, in replying, said tho Leader of tho Opposition had put on record tho fact that this was a class of Bill not usually made a. party question. He would liavo l>ccn pleased if tho lion .gentleman had i been able to keep this a'little more clearly before him during his speech. Ho could uot help suggesting that, if the general election liadnot been, quito so near they would not have had such a sensational article going through the press of the ■ Dominion 'at (he present time. While saying this he was not for one moment prepared tp say that theywero not pretty s-erionsly overcrowded at Auckland, Ho had himself given out this information six weeks or two months previously. He. admit ted. thai ho was to blame for the condition' that had arisen. A number of .c-ircumstanccs had contributed to produce it. • First of. all lie was particularly anxious not to increaso to. any large, extent the buildings in the present hospital site at Auckland, because the present site was not large enough for any 'extensive additions.. Many difficulties, which were beyond the control of' the Department,' ha/1 delayed tho preparation of another site and the erection of new buildings, but thfse would now be proceeded with as rapidly as possiblo. The new buildings would not bo of a temporary character as had been suggested,'but of a permanent l construction.

"Although 1 recognise that I am jo blame for not having foreseen the .necessity and getting the work done sooner," said Mr. Fowlds, "I want members to boar in mind the fact that about a year or 18 months ago, the Department had to "accept tho responsibility of providing'for all'the patients in the Mount View Hospital in Wellington. Abnormally High. "That was succesfuly coped with, and then Ihere had followed a most, abnormally high into of admissions during tho last two years." The completion of the new buildings would -make possible a more efficient classification, and wlieu the .House met l next year he hoped to be, able to show that provision' Was being made in a.satis, lory maimer for nl! I ho mental defectives in the Domiiiiou. IMcrring to . Mr. Massey's demand for a Hoyul Commissioiii

tlio Minister declared that the Leader of the Opposition hail a mania for Royal Commissions. ]f he were allowed to have liis way in this particular, it would cost the country more than it would cost to relic.ve the overcrowding complained of. 11l reference to the letter that had been read, ho was perfectly satisfied that no medical superintendent would 'put a patient, newly admitted, into a refractory ward, unless he was noisy. A demand had bcon raised by members, particularly those who had mental hospitals m their electorates, for shorter hours for attendants. Exaggerated statements had been made. Attendants were at. call during their meal hours, but they were so called only in eases of emergency, and tills did not happen frequently, jlo did not say that tlio hours were not, perhaps, a littlo ton long, but many of .he hours were spent in recreation. At. present, SO attendants were required to replace others away on holiday. A larger number would be required if the hours of attendants were reduced, and the expense this would involve was considerable. The Minister stated that local authorities at present made a practice of handing over people suffering from senile decay, to tlio mental hospital authorities. These people could bo much better eared for in other institutions. Mr. Laurenson had said that, tlio cost per head was not enough, but his (the Minister's! hope was that when the institution at Tokanui had been properly established, it would be as nearly as possible self-supporting. Ho was gird to find that the Bill, on (he whole, had received a friendly reception. Ho had given more attention to this Bill than to any other work since he became a Minister. and lie hoped that tliev would pass a Bill that would be a credit to New Zealand for a long time' to come. 1 The Bill was road a second time oil tlio voices, and the House* adjourned. 011 tlio motion of Sir James Carroll, at 10.50 p.m.