Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

On* looking over the animal report on the Lunatic Asylums o£ ifew Zealand, we find that the patients under treatment in our asylums on December 31, 1877, numbered altogether 872 persons, of whom 581 were males aud 291 were females, showing a itotal increase of 81 over the numbers of the previous year. New Zealand compares unfavorably as to the number of lunatics within her boundaries with other countries, as the total number of patients receive 1 into asylums during the y ear, inclusive of 45 re-admissions, was 362, aud of these 250 were males and 112 were females. This is a much larger proportion to the average number resident than that which usually exists in other countries. The ratio which the number of admissions bears to the population is generally regarded as a more reliable measure of the prevalence. of insanity iu a country than that of the number of lunatics in asylums at any given .time to the population. The admissions into asylums in this colony last year were in the proportion of 1 to 1144 of the general population, as estimated by the RegUtrar-General in March. This is a considerably larger proportion than that which obtained in 1876 in Victoria and New South Wales, which is stated in the reports of the Inspectors of Asylums in those colonies to have been respectively lin 1131 and lin 1749; and it is also larger than that which is found at Homo. The great evil complained of iu the report is the overcrowding of the inmates. A table has been prepared, which shows the urgent necessity for some steps to be taken without delay, as the amount of satisfactory accommodation now existing is as follows: —

Every year there is a great increase in the number of patients. The increase last year was 81, and the average increase for the last five years is 60. Taking the lowest of these figures as representing the probable annual increase for the next two years, there wilTbo, two years hence, 1030 patients. Speaking of the Napier Asylum, the report says it is not, properly speaking, an asylum at all. It is merely a small building only lit for temporary occupation by persons committed on remand for medical examination.. Dr, Skae, the Inspector of Asylums, gives the following as an approximate'estimate of the cost of the buildings which he recommends :• New wing, Christchurch Asylum, for 150 - patients, *at £2OO per patient ~ .. £30,000 New wing, Auckland-Asylum, for 107 pa* tients, at £2OO per patient .. .. .. 22,100 Asylum at Bhieskhi Reserve for 300 patients, at £2OO per patient .. .. . 00,000 New Asylum near Wellington, for 300 patients, at £2OO per patient .. ... ... . 00,000 Additions to Hokitika Asylum (built chiefly by the patients, of timber grown and pro-pa-ed on the Asylum Reserve), for 30 patients, at £lO per patient .. ~ 1,200 Temi-orary wooden buildings at Blueskin Reserve for 30 patients, at £IOO per patient' .. 3,000 Additions In brick to present Wollingtcn . Asylum, for 100 patients, at £IOO per patient 10,000

Total .. .. £160,000 “ The estimates,” the . Inspector says, “given above for the Christchurch and Auckland Asylums are much higher than those made by the architects, which wore respectively about £24,000 and .015,000 ; but I . fear that these which I have made, after discussing the matter with the Acting Colonial Architect, aro moro likely to be corroot.” It is somewhat remarkable that, tho table showing tho condition as to marriage

of tho patients discloses the’ factdhat there are about three unmarried male persons insane for each married patient. Among the females this proportion does not apply, as there are more married women insane than there are single. The.exact figures are below. The chances either for or against recovery appear to be exactly oven, as out of 213 single persons 107 recovered ; of 131 married 66 recovered; and of 14 widowed 7 recovered. The total number ol admissions were : —Single, 173 males, 40 females, total 213; married, 63 male?, 63 females, total 131 ; widowed, 10. males, 4 females, total 14; unknown, 4 males. Total, 250 males, 112 females. Out of this number 180 recovered, 38 were discharged uncured, and 63 died. Out of 362 patients who were admitted 130:were entered as being between the ages of 30 and 40, showing the prime of life to he the most dangerous time.

The House has passed a resolution to the effect that laud for the endowment of hospitals and charitable institutions shall be set aside by the Government. Sir George Grey, after admitting that he did not agree with the principle of the resolution, stated-that the Government did nob feel equal to the task of dealing with the matter during tho present session. Having once resolved to make the endowments referred to, the only thing necessary to decide seems to bo a principle upon which the division of proceeds of tho endowments shdll be based. It is evident at the outset that endowment might, he made within each hospital district, and vve may assume that the existing provincial districts will be chosen. In many cases tho population within a county is so small as to preclude tho possibility of a general system of county hospitals being introduced. In order to show the remarkable difference in expenditure upon .charitable relief and hospitals throughout the colony, we have prepared the following table, inasmuch as the details of the expenditure on hospitals are only made up to the last day of 1876, whereas the population is taken from the census in March last, the amount per head will not be strictly accurate, being a little below the true figure. It is yet sufficiently close for purposes ot comparison : . •

From the above table it would appear either that some parts o£ the colony are much more liberal in their contributions for the sick and destitute than others, or else that in some parts of the colony charitable aid is greatly neglected. If there is any one lesson to be learnt from the above table more than another, it is that whatever fund may be created by endowments of land it should be distributed upon a basis of population; because if sanitary legislation in any of the large towns of the colony is neglected, the number of cases of sickness thereby is increased. It is not right that the whole of the rest of the colony should be deprived of a large portion of the revenue they had a right to expect from the landed endowment set apart for them by the State, simply because some of their neighbors have neglected their duties. On the other hand, any ,division of the lauded endowment now, so that each district shall have a distinct share set apart, is certainly not to be recommended. The popu- ■ lation of each district is increasing at a different ratio, and the value of landed estate is also constantly varying in different districts. The most thoroughly equitable division now, in two years’ time, might have become altogether unfair. We might have the spectacle of a hospital with an average number of 20 inmates receiving double the revenue of another hospital, containing an average number of 50 or 100 inmates. The only practical suggestion that presents itself is that endowments may be set aside wherever most convenient within the colony. Any portion of such endowments that may bo required for hospital or charitable purposes only might be handed over to the local Hospital Committee. Their suggestions as to the sale, lease, or use of the land might be considered by the Government, and, when possible, acted upon, but any profits derived from the land in the form of rents, proceeds of sale, &c., should all he paid into the general hospital fund of the colony, to be redistributed throughout the colony in proportion to the population contained in each district. Inasmuch as it is exceedingly unlikely that sales would bo recommended under this regulation, except where very favorable terms were offered, these endowments would probably bo retained for the purpose for which they were intended. No one supposes that. the endowments proposeed will relieve the inhabitants of any district from the necessity of contributing to the relief of the sick and destitute. According to the terms of this proposal, the fewer the number of cases of sickness per 1000 of the population in the district, the less would bo the amount of local contributions required. If an increase of sickness meant au increase of hospital expenses, sanitary conditions would assume an importance in the eyes of the public that they cannot he said to have at present.

Novel and interesting information may be extracted from almost any blno-book. Looking over the table of exports and imports to different countries in the last volume of “New Zealand Statistics” published in 1877, wo notice that our exports to the United Kingdom in 1871) were £4,533,000, the imports being £4,451,000, a difference in favor of New Zealand of £82,000. We' believe that 'few people are aware of this fact, Onr imports from New South Wales are £610,000, the exports only £219,000, a balance in favor of Now South Wales of nearly £400,000. Victoria exports to us £1,170,000, and only receives £651,000, a difference to her credit of £419,000. Strange to say, South Australia, from whom we might expect to receive our Adelaide wheat and flour, only shows exports amounting to £38,000, and receives from us £66,000 worth of imports,—a difference of £28,000 in our favor. The United States exports £192,000, and imports only £60,800, —that is to say, she sends us nearly three times as much as she receives from us. The South Pacific Islands send us goods to the value of £52,000, but receive from hero about £86,000, leaving us a balance of £34,000. The totals show that we imported in 1876 £6,900,000 worth of goods, and exported £5,670,000, leaving a balance of £1,230,000 to our debit. From the above it appears that our total exports in 1376 amounted to a little over five and a half millions. The exports of wool for tho year ending June 30, 1877 (the molt approximate date available), were valued at £3,138,000, or about 5-9ths of tho whole export , trade of tho colony. Few people are aware how largely wool represepts tho wealth and trade of tho colony. Wool-growers aro a quiet class, and their importance in the State is apt to bo overlooked. A tall of Id. per lb. in the price of wool, estimating tho value of wool at Is. per lb. all round, represents a loss to tho settlers of nearly £300,000 of their income. Our last advices report a fall of 2d., equal to over half a million, if allNew Zealand wool was sold at tho depreciated value. , These figures show distinctly that in New Zealand tho pastoral interests are very important. It may bo gratifying news to our readers to learn that the total export of wool for tho year ending June, 1878, was 61,947,0001 b,, valued at £3,484,000, in round numbers. During the previous year the amount was 55,221,0001b5., valued at £3,138,000, showing an increase of weight of 6,726,0001 b., and of £345,000 in value, i.c., an increase in weight of a trifle over 11 per cent., and in value of almost exactly 10 per cent. The' roal gauge of our present prosperity lies far more in these. figures tban people generally believe. Our population is growing at tho rate of more than 0 per cent, annually, and our chief exports have increased very materially during she past year, It is highly improbable that this rate of increase in tho production of wool can be maintained. Pastoral land is in many places being taken up for agriculture, and now country is not open for settlement. The weight of our indebtedness will bo felt much more heavily when the incomes of the wool-growers ooase to grow larger. The fact that immigration is an essential part of tho Public Works scheme seems now to have been lost sight of. We must have people to travel on the railways before wo can make the linos pay. Since. writing the above wo gather from a later official source that the wool exports, fpr the year ending December 31, 1877, were valued at £3,658,000. The total value of tho exports of tho year ending 30th June, 1878, being estimated at £6,222,000. From which it appears that wool has maintained its relative proportion ofi live-ninths of tho whole export trade.

U;;nr,n the bonding unauthorised expenditure during the year 1877-78 wo notice that there ia net down for the running expenses of the s.b. Hineraoa £3lOl. This sum is, of course, in addition to the sum voted last year by the Government, and includes nothing more than tho bare

working expenses of tho steamer. ' . When tho return asked for :at the beginning of the session by Mr. Fitzroy is published, the public will have an opportunity of seeing how little ground there was for supposing that a Government which constantly appealed to the people could ever retain popularity except by adhering to the old policy of a large outlay oi publio money. The diminished immigration, the immense expenditure proposed on railways, and tho everdnereasifig public and departmental expenditure, all point.to the fact a that popularity huntingGoverarnent must followthe precedent of former days, and respond liberally to the old cry for paneni et circenses. Nowadays this may bo translated into a lavish departmental expenditure, and an unlimited quantity of work supplied by the State to a very limited number of workmen, with the result of high wages and short hours of labor. In justification of what we have written above, we may point out a few instances ©f the enormous increase in the expenditure of public money by the present Government, as shown in the Appropriation Act., In the public departments the vote for 1877 was £184,699 ; for 1878 it is set down as £199,073. Under the heading. Law and Justice the expenditure last year was £139,700, this year it is set down at £144,400. There is a largo increase iu the expenditure on Postal and Telegraphic, bub this will be generally approved of by tho public. One of the largest and most noteworthy additions to the expenditure is contained in the most objectionable vote of any, viz., tho Miscellaneous which has increased from £124,200 to £137,200. The public will be surprised to hear that the sum set apart to meet provincial liabilities has been largely increased, as the amount set down in the Estimates was £223,000, but the appropriation as passed amounts to £237,000. This includes a balance of overdraft of the late Otago Provincial Government for £50,000, and for tho redemption of Otago Dock bonds a sum of £23,000. Verily Mr. .Macaadrew deserves the support of his constituents.

Males, Females. Total. At Christchurch .. .» . — SO 80 51 0 30 ■Wellington 20 20 Auckland 50 *“■ Total 131 130 270 And as the present number of patients is 505 3o;j There is a deficiency of accommodatlon for ■lOi lot G33

Expenditure. Population. Per neutl about. £ 3. (1. 15.500 82,000 3 9 1,750 9.400 3 8 Wellington 10,200 61,000 4 0 Hawke's Bay 3,200 15.000 4 8 8,000 25,000 6 4 050 7.500 2 G Canterbury 32,000 91,900 7 0 7,SCO 17,000 9 0 Otago .. .. 22,500 102,500 8 10

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18781108.2.6

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5497, 8 November 1878, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,553

TOPICS OF THE MONTH. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5497, 8 November 1878, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE MONTH. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5497, 8 November 1878, Page 2

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert