The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1913. GROWTH OF INSANITY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 87, 16 August 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1913. GROWTH OF INSANITY.

If public opinion requires any further direction in calling attention to the startling growth of lunacy in nearly every part of the civilised world, that direction is given in the very speaking figures placed before the International Medical Congress at present sitting in London.’ In 1880 the total number of insane persons in the Brit-

ish Isles, according to the report of the Commissioners on Lunacy, was 91,615, and in 1912 the number had grown to 179,350, an increase of truly alarming proportions. Serious as these figures arc, however, they do not tell |the worst of the story. Some five years ago the report of the Royal Commis-j sion on the Care and Control of the i Feeble-minded stated that in Eng-' land and Wales there were about | jIoOjOOO mentally defective persons, | apart from certified insane people,! land that fully 66,000 of these were in urgent need of care and proper) .'attention, both for their own sake) and for the sake of the community. Last year the British Government introduced a measure designed to relieve the situation, hut it was abandoned during the autumn session, owing either to pressure of business or to lack of time. Thus measure, considered by many thoughtful students of the grave question to bo at least a considerable advance in the dealing wit!) insanity and the men-) tally-afflicted, proposed the setting up of a permanent commission of fifteen members who would provide and maintain all institutions found necessary for the work, and would receive an annual grant of £150,000. Pro- ■ vision was made for the treatment of habitual inebriates and others likely to be a danger to society. It

is regrettable for many reasons that the Bill did not become law. Tn Ntew Zealand, despite our hotter conditions of life, there is plenty of cause

for thought and action in the growth of insanity in our midst. The terrible tragedy at Inglewood will bring this face closely home to the people of Taranaki.