LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 6, 6 June 1874, Page 3

LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

[From the “ Press.”]

In the year 1872 Dr Paley, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums for the colony of Victoria, was requested by the Government of New Zealand to undertake an inspection of the asylums established in the different provinces of this country. Prom causes which, as he states, were entirely beyond his control, he was unable to forward the results of his inspection to the Government, and it was not until November, 1873, that he did so. A copy of the report has been supplied to the Provincial Government, and laid by them on the table of the Provincial Council. It appears that Dr Paley made a very careful examination of the asylums in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin ; in which there were, in September last, 461 patients, male and female. He did not visit Hokitika, Napier, or Taranaki; but we are led to infer that there would not be many to add to the number of patients from those places. Dr Paley has embodied the results of his inspection of the above-named asylums iu a number of recommendations tending in some respects to a better system of management. The report commences with the consideration of the question whether it would be advisable to collect the insane of the Colony in one or more Central Asylums. Dr Paley considers, and we quite agree with him. that such a course could not, in the present state of the Colony, be advantageously carried out. The chief objections to it are, as he states—“ Ist, “ Difficulty of conveying patients from “ distant places. 2nd. Removal of “ patients beyond reach of personal “ cnmmuw™[' n i wiih tjpir friends “ Transit or insane persons of every “ class (whatever the kind of mental “ disorder under which they labour) is attended with more or less risk to “ themselves and those around them. # “ * * * The separation of patients “ from relations, friends, home, and “ local interest, deprives them of a very

“ powerful and important means of “ restoration to sound reason.” These objections, we think, are very strong, and we quite concur with Dr Paley’s conclusion “that it is advisable, in “ the interests of the insane, to retain “ the local Asylums in those districts “ which contain the greatest number “of patients.” He goes on however to add that these local Asylums should be reconstructed on approved plans, and where necessary, reorganised on a proper basis. dancing shortly at the separate reports on the Asylums visited by Dr Paley we find that two principal points appear in all—the absolute necessity of daily medical supervision (under a resident physician in large Asylums,), and more space, indoors and out, for the patients. Commencing with Wellington we find that at the time of the Inspection the Asylum was in a sort of transition state, the old building having been found to be unsuitable, and a new one being in course of construction. We presume that since then the new Asylum has been built. The visits of the medical officer took place two or three times a week, and that officer seems to have resided at a distance and to have been not always easily accessible, Deferring to the new Asylum, Dr Paley suggests that the keeper should be furnished with a plan of a garden and grounds, to be worked out, if possible, by the staff and patients, the objects to be attained being “ cheerful and varied grounds, “ having a free look out * * # “ with sheltered walks and seats for “ feeble and infirm inmates.” In Auckland, the building seems to have been entirely inadequate to the number of patients, and the Inspector particularly alludes to “ the cheerless “ and comfortless aspect of the day “ room * * * * and the un- “ suitableness of the airing courts “ which were small, without any “ shelter from suu or rain, and so shut “ in by buildings and walls that no “ view of

the surrounding country

“ could ho had from them.” At Nelson, the same observations are made. At Dunedin Dr Paley says that the area of ten acres of the Asylum grounds are quite insufficient for the number of patients, and lie remarks

that “ with regard to healthy “ persons of the laboring class confined •* in Asylums on account of chronic in- “ sanity, suitable work in the open air “ has a soothing pacifying effect, and €t tends to induce recovery if that be attainable, whilst enforced idleness, “ in a circumscribed space, causes irri- “ tability and restlessness, which often “ result in outbursts of violence.” At Christchurch the Inspector found the Asylum also in a state of transition, the new concrete building for female patients not being finished, but he recommends in this case likewise that extended recreation grounds should be prepared.

We have been somewhat particular in drawing attention to the remarks thus made by Dr Paley on these points, because they are, more especially the last, perhaps more applicable to what appear to us to be wants in connection with our Canterbury Asylum than some of the other points mentioned in the Eeport. We shall briefly refer to some of these presently. But with regard to these two we entirely agree with the Inspector, in the recommendations he makes as to medical supervision. He says —“Ist. Appoipt a duly qualified medical practitioner having knowledge and experience “in the treatment of the insane “ and the management of Asylums, to “ be the inspector of all the asylums in u the colony. 2nd. Appoint a resident “ medical Superintendent to every “ Asylum containing 100 patients or up* “ wards. 3rd. Let every Asylum con- “ taining fewer than 100 patients be “ visited at least once a day by a “ qualified medical practitioner.” We have most certainly no fault whatever to find with the management, in this particular, of our Canterbury Asylum. The present medical officer deserves all praise for his constant attendance and careful solicitude for the welfare of his patients. But it may not always be bo. Possibly in a few years other arrangements might be made, and we conceive that it will be far better to have one settled system in force for medical supervision of all Asylums, by the adoption of Dr Paley’s recommendation. With regard to the other point, that of more space for the patients, there is still more necessity, we think, for this. Anyone who has visited the Sunnyside Asylum must have been struck with the cheerless look of the airing yards and courts. A very great deal has been done, and Dr Paley specially refers to this with commendation, by the keeper of the Asylum for the na.tip.nt'.a ~Orrnir xn entering the airing yards the first thought that strikes one is that nothing can be more calculated to increase the disease of the inmates than the small, hard, bare courts, with blank prison-like walls, in which they are supposed to take what is callea recreation. We trust that an improvement in this respect, if not already begun, will soon be made. The patients, provided they are prevented from escaping, should be allowed ample space, large grounds, for the little enjoyment they can take.

With regard to the other points mentioned by Dr Paley, and the recommendation he makes upon them, we believe that they do not bear much reference to the Canterbury Asylum. First, the means of prevention of fire are, we understand, provided at Sunnyside by the ample water supply and the telegraph wire to the Police Station. The erection of a distinct building for inebriate patients, and the separation of the male and female departmentsjto some distance from each other, the endeavors to amuse the patients and other matters of like kind alluded to in the report, have been carried out at Sunnyside, Taking the report as a whole, we think that as a general rule the management of the different Provincial Asylums appears to have been good and satisfactory as far as the appliances at hand admitted. Dr Paley does not in any instance refer unfavorably to the conduct of the officers of the institutions, or to the internal arrangements for the patients. The matters on which be makes recommendations for improvement are all such as the Governments themselves can easily deal with. This is in itself satisfactory, for anything giving even a suspicion of a return to the old fashioned manner of treating the unfortunates in Lunatic Asylums would jar painfully upon the feelings of all in the colony. The report itself will, we presume, be made the subject of discussion, if not of legislation, in the General Assmbly. But, as the Asylums are at present under Provincial control, and as it does not appear by the report that Dr Paley at all recommends any alteration in this respect, we hope the Provincial Governments will themselves take the matter in hand. The recommendations of Dr. Paley might all be easily and usefully carried out, and the Government of this Province might with advantage at once adopt those which we have above alluded to as applicable to the Asylum ptSiumpide,