OUR LUNATIC POPULATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 15 August 1907, Page 3

OUR LUNATIC POPULATION.

The annual repuort of tho lnspectar(..'cueral of Mental Hospitals states that tlie number of registered iusaue persons in the colony on 31st December, JUOli, was 3200 (1000 males and 13% females, an increase of 04, 64 males and ISO females) on the number of the previous year. At the end of the ye.ir these were distributed as follows: Auckland, 075; Christchureh, 529; Dunedin (tioaclifl'e), 754; Hokilika, lliii; Nelson, 150; Porirua, 022; Wellington, ;2liS: Asliburn .Hall (private). 42. These

figures do not indicate the actual percent :ge of insanity in each district mentioned, because, adjustments ha>c been rendered necessary in various cases owing to the limitation of accommodation. The accommodation for in.-n, the report st-t.es, is sufficient for immediate requirements; but an excess of 35 women is spread over the hospitals this year. The building programme provides for the present and the estimated increase anil a little more.

On December 31st list the patients on the register were in the following proportion to the estimated populaii.m of the country:—Hales (exclusive of Maoris) per 1000, 3.00, or 1 in 25f, ; males (inclusive of Maoris) 3.75 per tlmiisn-vl. or 1 in 200; females (exclusive of Mao:-;*) 3.02 per thousand, or 1 in 330: females (inclusive of Maoris) 2.! H per thousand, or 1 in 334. Tola's: Exclusive of .Maoris, 3.4!) per thousand, or 1 in 2SU; inclusive of Maoris, 3.35 per thorn-and, or 1 in 2!) R. Tlie population of the colony numbers 888,575, of whom (i(10,247 are native born, and 20-2,-331 ii.ru persons who have come to .vie. colony from all parts of the world. Tlie total number of insane is 3172, of whom 088 are native born and 2184 aru Jul. Therefore, inougli the native born arc considerably more thin two-thirds of the population, they contribute considerably less than one-third of the insane; or, to put it more accurately, among the New Zealand born there is only one insane in G13.15, while among persons who were born outside the colony there is one insane in every 12U.2. A peculiar fact is mentioned in the report. It is that, to all intents and purposes, one in a thousand of all immigrants, tourists, etc., became insane within a year. They contributed i 7 per cent, of tlie admissions (050 for the year). Any accidental ciieumstaaees may have Halved or doubled this nvnn- - ber; but the figures '-are undoubtedly suggestive," and the prospect of iiavi.ig '•to provide accommodation for thir.'y- • one new arrivals is not to be ignored." The principal immigrants from foreign countries- taken collectively number about 14.500. They have a* high proportion of insanity, namely, 1 in !13. The report, however, quotes a mass of information to show that the immigrant "is not an average type of the country ' of his origin." The outstanding feature disclosed by the calculations given in tile report is "the markedly low incidence of insanity among 'the New Zealand born."