The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5382, 27 June 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1878.

As soon as the abolition of the provincial form of government had caused the responsibility of the charge and maintenance of the lunatic asylums in the several provincial districts to devolve upon the colony, tho Government took steps to secure the services of a gentleman qualified by experience to act as Inspector of the New Zealand Asylums, and to undertake the general control and management of thoso institutions. For some months after his arrival in tho colony in 1870 Dr. Skae was engaged in visiting the several asylums, and on the Ist July, 1877, he presented to the Colonial Secretary his report upon tho subject. His paper was laid before Parliament and is printed in the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives for last year. It had long been surmised that the condition of the lunatic asylums generally throughout the provinces was not what it; ought to be; but few were prepared for the shocking revelations made in Dr. Skae’s report. There were found to be eight asylums in the colony ; Auckland, New Plymouth, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Hokitika, Dunedin, and Christchurch each having its local institution. The number of patients ranged from four at New Plymouth to 235 at Dunedin. The total number was 519 males, 264 females, in all 783 individuals. _ The average increase in numbers during tho last four years had been sixty in each year; sufficient accommodation, leaving out the Dunedin Asylum, existed in all the asylums for no more than 270 patients; Dr. Skae estimates that in the year 1880 the whole number of lunatics in charge of the Government will bo at least 1000; and that room will then bo required for 750 patients in excess of the extent of accommodation at present existing. This is itself a sufficiently alarming statement; but its terror is aggravated greatly by a study of the details of the condition of some of the present dens—for they are, indeed, little else. The Auckland Asylum—a handsome brick building, so far as its construction was carried—was intended originally to provide accommodation for 100 patients. No more than one wing having been built, there was accommodation for fifty patients only. The whole number confined there on the Ist January, 1877, was 163, of whom 58 were women. Of this establishment Dr. Skae says: “ The condition of “ the patients, generally speaking, is de- “ plorable. The great majority are “ simply prisoners, who are not, and “in the present circumstances of the “ asylum cannot be, subjected to any “system of treatment, either curative “or palliative. The building is crowded “ to such an extent as to defy all attempts “ at proper management, no matter what “ amount of ability and energy were “brought to bear on it.” A tire broke out not long ago in some wooden cells placed outside tho main building, and destroyed as much of the wing as was not fire-proof. There was a lamentable loss of life on that occasion. The female patients were removed to tho hospital in town; tho damaged wing has been restored, and tho male patients are now kept there, but are still greatly overcrowded.

Our Wellington Asylum, with suitable accommodation for 40 patients, had 72 inmates on tho Ist January, 1877. Tho front portion of tho building is described as “passable;” tho remainder, called tho “ back ward, ” is said to bo “ of an infe- “ rior and indeed quite disgusting de- “ scription.” A fire broke out in this asylum recently, which, had it not been discovered in time, might have had most calamitous results. Canterbury in this, as in all its public institutions, has sot a high example to the other Provinces, an example which we may hope would have been followed if their respective Treasury chests had been as well filled as that of the favored Province. The Sunnyside asylum, like others, was overcrowded at the date of tho inspector’s report, but new buildings were in course of erection; and the now asylum is described as being “ admirably adapted for its purpose, and “ of which any county in England might “ bo justly proud.” Dunedin Asylumcontained 235 patients, of whom 69 wore females. After condemning utterly the site and tho building, Dr. Skae says: “It is crowded and “ cannot bo enlarged, yet tho number of “ patients is steadily and rapidly increasing.” Tho recommendation of tho inspector with regard to this asylum ' is that 300 acres, at a

convenient distance from town, should bo got, and a building for the accommodation of 300 patients commenced without delay. With regard to the Wellington Asylum, the recommendation of the inspector practically is that a now site should be found, and a building erected to accommodate 100 patients. In regard to Auckland the recommendation is that the building should be completed in conformity with the original plan by the addition of another wing, in which, by better arrangement, a considerable increase of accommodation could be provided. Dr. Skab says, with a grim irony which wo must not suspect to have any particular political moaning or direction, “ there is good reason to believe that “ there are at present many lunatics and “ idiots at largo,” and he urges the necessity of increasing the accommodation in several of the asylums, so as to make suitable places, on the whole, for 1000 patients. He believes that “ this in- “ creased accommodation would no sooner “ bo provided than fully occupied.” Notwithstanding the tact that this report of the Inspector of Lunatic Asylums was in the hands of the Government, and had been laid before the General Assembly at an early period of the last session, it does not appear that any provision was made for the necessary expenditure required to carry out the proposed improvement, or that, except in the restoration of that part of the Auckland Asylum which was destroyed by fire, anything has been done. The fact will then remain recorded to our discredit that, the circumstances being notorious, wo have allowed some eight hundred human beings, whose mental condition makes them objects for pity and commissoration, to remain packed together for a year in buildings of the character wo have described, in which there was not sufficient accommodation for more than onethird of that number, and in which, on that account chiefly, there was as a rule no classification, and no conditions favoring successful treatment. Some consolation may be derived from the fact stated by Dr. Skae that, despite all the disadvantages under which our New Zealand asylums exist, their statistics, in common with those in other colonies, compare favorably with those of asylums in older countries, the recovery rate being higher and the death rate lower. But the existing condition of things is a disgrace which should be wiped out at the earliest possible moment, and the people, we think, will expect to see, upon the meeting of the General Assembly, that liberal provision is made for the necessary improvements in these institutions, and that the promptest action is taken to carry them out.