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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 46, 15 September 1864, Page 2

Of all the sins of omission and commission which have invariably to be placed to the account of young Colonies struggling to attain an advanced and enlightened civilisation, the neglect of proper provision for the safe-keeping, maintenance, and recovery of insane persons, is, perhaps, most deeply to be regretted. In January, ISG3, a circular despatch was addressed by the Secretary of State to the various Governors, suggesting the expediency of making inquiry into the state of the Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums in the different Colonies. Answers were received from thirty-three Colonies, and a mass of information furnished regarding the state of thirty-nine Hospitals and twenty-eight Asylums. During the early part of the current year, the Home Government caused a report to be printed, based on the above returns, and from it we learn " that in many instances the present " arrangements are compatible with " the grossest abuses, and that gross " abuses very commonly do exist " In a summary of the defects most generally prevailing in Colonial Hospitals and Asylums, the following sentence occurs : — " There are few, if any of them, in which " positive cruelties, deliberately coni- " mitted, can be asserted actually to find " place, but there is hardly a single in- 1 " stitution in which, in a greater or less " degree, primary sanitary requirements " are not neglected ; and few in which " there is any sufficient security, in the " nature of inspections and reports, " against the . present or the possible " existence of even the grossest secret " abuses."* The Australian Colonies, and more especially Victoria, have of late years done much to remove the stain which so long rested upon them in this respect ; but the work is by no rneana complete, and in New Zealand it has ; scarcely been commenced. When it has pleased Providence to deprive a fellowcreature of reason, and to render his life a burden to himself, and a constant source of anxiety, and perhaps danger, to those around him, the policeman steps in ; the unfortunate man is charged in a criminal court with insanity, and the offence being proved, the ceimixal v sentenced to the same treatment, and to partake of the same fare, as is accorded to those who, in full possession of their faculties, have broken the laws of their country. Such is the plan pursued in Southland, and although in some of the Provinces, it is partially modified, nowhere in the Colony is there a well organised system for the treatment of the insane. We have at. various, times pointed to the necessity that exists for a central establishment for the worst class of convicts — an establishment ciifcirely under the con-< trol of the General Government — and we COutend that there is a similar necessity

* No return had been supplied 'fl'Om'Ne'W-Zcfi.-S land up to tho date of the publication of tho re- j i port.

for a. Lunatic Asylum., The Provincial system which, in many ways, has done so much for' New Zealand, has tended in both these instances to carelessness and procrastination. Each Province is entrusted with v the .management _of its lunatics and criminals, and in each the task of dealing efficiently with them is found to be. 7 too " great ; but the General Government hesi - tate at interfering with existing a'f- : • rangements, being content to let things continue as they are, so long as the Provinces make no remonstrance. Had there been but one government in the | Colony, the matter would have been long since taken in hand. ; In examining this question of the treatment of lunatics, the first point that strikes , us as worthy, of condem- , nation is that, where there ai*e grounds to suspect mental derangement, the preliminary steps taken are identical with those for the detection of crime. This could be remedied even though no j radical change were effected in the whole j system. Proper qiiarters should be provided for the temporary confinement of persons suspected of insanity, and the necessary inquiries should be conducted with privacy, so far as the general public is concerned. It is unfair to the man himself to give greater publicity to his case than is absolutely needed ; but how much worse does it appear when we consider the effect of such a proceeding on the relatives and friends of one so unfortunately placed. The affliction to them is surely heavy enough without the additional pain of having it dragged to liglt, to be talked of, and perhaps laughed at, by an unthinking crowd. Great as this evil is, it is nothing in comparison to what happens when the inquiry is over and the insanity proved. One would imagine that now, at least, the unhappy man would be placed where not only his safe keeping might be attended to, but where his present comfort and his future recovery and restoration to society would enter largely into the measures adopted by his keepers. Such is not the case. He is sent to the common gaol, fortunate enough if recent improvements have removed him from actual contact with criminals of the worst dye. We no longer use, it is true, the whips and chains of the last century ; but of the enlightened treatment which modern science has shown to be of such efficacy in the treatment of the insane, we take no account whatever. We furnish him with no amusements ; w© give him no books ; we shut him out from all enjoyment of a life which, at the best, must .be a dreary wasfce, and by so doing we, in nine cases out of ten, bring a punishment on ourselves by precluding the possibility of his recovery, and by burdening the State with his permanent maintenance. The number of lunatics in confinement in Npw Zealand is large in proportion to the population, and we believe that medical testimony would go to prove that there are many at present at large whose friends are only deterred from depriving them of their liberty by the knowledge of the treatment they would in that case have to undergo. The public are aware that, under existing regulations, the chances of recovery are greater when the lunatic is at large than when he is placed at the tender mercies of a Provincial G-overnment. Even supposing for a moment that it was not so, and that lunatics received all the that attention their cases demanded, and the present system was likely to lead to their restoration to health, the magistrates of the Colony are not empowered to grant warrants for retaining them in custody, unless the examining medical men certify that they are " dangerous." That is the only class' of which the State at present talced cognizance, whereas there should be provision made for every phase of insanity, with a view to its ultimate cure, or, it" incurable, for the maintenance of the patient, in cases where the friends desired it — of course, at their expense, if they possessed the means. We do not wish to be understood as blaming the authorities of Southland, or any other Province, in the management of the insane. The sever.il Governments may, or may not, be able to effect improvements, but we contend that the question is emphatically one of national importance, and one with which the General G-overnment of the Colony is alone able to deal in a satisfactory manner. Not one of the Provinces possesses the means to establish a suitable asylum, and supposing it had, very few will doubt that it would be better that one general asylum should be established, where the medical men would of necessity become far more extensively acquainted with the various kinds of lunacy, and, consequently, more successful in their treatment of it, than could possibly be the case in the circumscribed practice of one settlement. It is evident, also, that on the score of economy the system we are urging would be infinitely preferable to existing arrangements. It is to be hoped that the Colony will not permit this blot on its fair name to continue much longer. The Assembly should take actiou as soon as practicable. The cause of science demands it ; the economy of the Colony demands it ; and last, but not feast, humanity and justice to this unfortunate class of persons urge us at once to cease to regard them in the light of criminals and outcasts.