MENTAL HOSPITALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 123, 2 September 1910, Page 4

MENTAL HOSPITALS.

ixspbctor-geniLk^^^eport. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent). Wellington, Last Night. Dr. Hay's report on the mental hospitals was laid on the table to-day. It chronicles that the obstacles hr.-the way of building the big central establishment at Tokanui arc now removed, so that the long-felt want of the system maj be said to be within measurable distance of being met at last. Overcrowding has been the complaint for years, and when this establishment fe built it will relieve all the other establishments, which will then do their work in peace with plenty of room and lots • of breathng space. The report chronicled the usual large number of inmates, with a recovery of 48 per cent., and a slight decrease in the rate of admission. The doctor is frank about the treatment. "There is no panacea in the treatment of insanity," he sava, "the great thinj is to get the afflicted to the treatment as quickly as possible. A state of wellbeing must be established lest the highly complex brain tissue undergo changes which no after effort can undo." It is_ the proverbial case of the * stitch in time. Of course, there are very natural objections to taking a step which results in marking people for life. It is one of the most pathetic aspects of the evil of mental affliction, but there is no other way but that of immediate resort to adequate treatment; and on that, Dr. Hay insists with all hjs might. The cases of mental afflictions are set out in an interesting table, and it may be remarked that vice and alcoholism do not play as important a part as is usually imagined, a fact accentuating the difficulties of the problem of treatment. The tables show that last year tltt causes were—heredity 110—congenital mental deficiency 72 senility 7 sudden mental stress 11—prolonged mental stress (a layman might call it worry) 8— privation 4 vice 46—alcohol 95 epilepsy 34—and unascertained 90. Of the 7nale patients admitted during the year 156 were labourers, 50 were farmers, 25 had no occupation, 12 were farm hands. 13 were miners, 10 were carpenters, 5 were shepherds, 5 wept rahbitors, 8 were grocers. 4 were school boys, 4 were school masters, 14 were clerks and accountants, 8 were gardeners, and 9 were gum-diggers. Of the females, 307 came under the designation of "domestic duties," 16 were of no occupation, 9 were teachers, 5 were vagrants 5 were nurses, 6 were dressmakers, and the remainder were- made up as follows: —artist, barmaid, clerk, cook, governess, laundress, machinist, music teacher, photographer's assistant,, restaurant keeper, tailoress. and 17 "u«» known." The number on the register at the end of the year was 3549, and the number treated during the year was 4237. Of tha 31549, the United Kingdom was the birth country of 1917, and New Zealand of 1255. Australia furnished 121, and the. balance came from Germany, Sweden. China (21), and there were 3S Maoris. In the comparatively small number of Natives in the Dominion, there may be a ray of hope for the future, as the Maoris represent, roughly, one per thousand of the population and the pakeha three and a half. The contrast is suggestive, if not startling-