OPENING OF THE NEW LUNATIC ASYLUM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 118, 10 May 1876, Page 2

OPENING OF THE NEW LUNATIC ASYLUM.

Invitations haying beeri freely issued; ;to tt\e opening of the new Asylum there i was by N halffpast :;seyen last.mght^the' hour" appointed 1 for tti© ceremony,^ a Jarger crowd assembled than could be accommodated even by packing as closely as possible. The room selected was one. that^will be ke.pt for entertainments^and^'neltlittleXstage had b^n erected at one end of it, which will always be useful on similar occasions. At the far end .were such of the inmates of the institution as it was considered advisable to allow to be present, and from the bursts of hearty laughter with which they greeted portions of the entertainment, they certainly inight b? regarded as a most appreciative^ auflfe •ence?: A lijttje before. eight 9'ctock Jiis Honot the\SujpirmtMddntt stepped -on , to the stage, and addressing those ; present said it was with no little pleasure that he met them there on such an occasion. .' He regretted exceedingly the long delay that had taken.place in the completion of.the building,, the reasons for which there was no occasion to refer to at that time. Steps would have been taken years since in the direction of providing better accommodation for the lunatics had it not been for the hope that the General Government would have decided upon erecting some central institution for the whole colony, indeed they had some years ago actually secured a spot for such a purpose not far from where he was then standing, but since then nothing more, had been done towards i carrying out the original intention. He was glad, however, to find that the Government had determined upon appointing an (Inspector of Asylums Jfbr, the colony, who would, no doubt, be a man of large experience, who couldgive many; valuable hints: to engaged in the management of the various establishments in :the/ .colony; -He: wished to state how grateful he felt to . Dr Boor, the medical officer, and -Me Butler, thekeeper, for their unremitting attention to the patients,. and felt that a very large amount of credit was due to them for the very grsafc efforts.they had used under the most disadvantage- 1 ous circumstances to render as comfortable as possible those committed to their care. For their sake, as well as for that of the patients, he rejoiced that better accommodation was now at their disposal. All that now remained for, him to do was to declare theAsylum open. The evening's amusement then commenced with an overture, after which the curtain rose .to the amusing farce of " Romance uniler Difficulties," in which some of our best amateur actors took part; it is, therefore, unnecessary to say that the various characters were done full justice to. After a pleasant interlude of voCal and instrumental music, the " Ethiopian Serenaders," five in number, appeared on the stage, Tand treated the audience to some excellent singing,, and, what seemed to find even greater favor with the audience, some capital jokes, most of them having the immense advantage over those usually heard on such occasions of being new. Sambo and Caesar, the two corner ■ men, were as eccentric and volatile as could possibly be wished, while Mr Johnson, who no doubt would have preferred joining in the shouts, of laughter that rose from the audience, preserved a stolidity of countenance that would have done credit to a counsel listening to a judge laying down the law. The Ethiopians in course of time disappeared from the stage, and then, almost as quickly, the forms were cleared out of the room, the piano struck up a lively dance, and many of? the late audience speedily became actors in the last part of the -entertainment, which was kept up; with great spirit-Until long after; midnight. . : :