The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 179, 2 August 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1870.

A series of letters appeared in oui columns some few weeks since on tfcu subject of our Lunatic Asylum, which w< hoped would have drawn the attention o our Provincial Council, then in session, t( the matter, but beyond the appointment o a Select Committee to enquire into th< state of the institution nothing furthei was done. The subject is now beinj taken up by the Wellington paperi wherein the necessity of a Colonia Asylum is advocated, and, in order tc strengthen the argument, a few facts an stated with reference to the Provincial Asylums, more especially to the one ie Wellington which, it would appear, is a shade worse than our own. The Post thus describes it : — " We have an Asylum, as it is called by courtesy, which at present contains twenty-one individuals bereft of their reason, twelve women and nine men. We do not call these persons patients. They are simply prisoners, uuder the charge of a man and his wife, aided by one assistant. The Asylum is a gaol to all intents and purposes, provided with cells and straight-jackets for the refractory, where, when the fit of madness comes on, they are immured and, deprived of the means of injuring themselves or others, left to wrestle with it alone, until exhausted Nature succumbs in the struggle. When the fit has subsided, they are allowed the scope of other apartments under the surveillance of their gaolers, whose skill seems to be principally displayed in noting the first symptoms of a paroxysm, and promptly removing the prisoner seized, from the companionship of the rest." Our Nelson institution is certainly better and more ably managed than that at Wellington if the above account be a truthful one, which we see no reason to doubt, but we still insist upon it that an urgent necessity exists for one central asylum, one. which shall be constructed on the best and mo3t approved principles, and where the patients may be placed under the care of medical men who have made this branch of the profession their peculiar study, and who would be enabled to devote their entire attention to the various phases of the malady as it appears in the individuals committed to their charge. The article before us suggests that the Government should purchase the building at Canterbury, in which the necessary improvements and extensions should be made, to render it capable of containing all the lunatics whose cases are really bad in the colony. Wo would, however, remind the Post that many years ago a commissioner was appointed by the G-eneral Government in the person of Dr. Prendergast who, if we remember rightly, was the surgeon of one of H.M.s ships then on the station, and who, after visiting the various provinces for the purpose of fixing upon a site for a central asylum, decided that Nelson was, from its genial cheerful climate, the most fitting place in which to erect such an establishment. Acting upon this the Provincial Government secured, upon the suggestion of Dr. Prendergast, a block of land consisting of some 40 acres, in a pleasantly situated valley near Stoke, which is to this day held by them for this specific purpose. Provincial jealousies, however, which have been the means of preventing many a beneficial scheme from being carried out, were in this instance excited, and the consequence is that the system now pursued throughout the colony with reference to the unfortunate individuals who have been deprived of reason, is neither more nor less than a positive disgrace to a civilised community. It may be that the magnitude of the political questions now before Parliament will prevent any attention being paid to minor matters of this description, but the man who will boldly stand forth in the House and expose the existing evils, and demand the reform that is so urgently needed, will be entitled to the thanks of all those who are not so wrapped up in the political, as to forget the social, interests of the colony.