The Colony’s Insane.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 189, 15 August 1901, Page 3

The Colony’s Insane.

The number of registered insane persons in the colony on December 31at, 1900, was 2078—male i 1637, females 1091—being an increase of 115—males i?l, females 4d—over the previous year. The proportion of the male insane to the male population exclusive of Maoris is one in 256-; inclusive, one in 4 270. The proportion of female insane to female population exclusive of Maoris is one in 355; inclusive, One in 351, while the proportion of total insane to total population exclusive of Maoris is one in 23Sg inclusive, one in 303. The annual reports generally deplore the increase in insanity, and advoctae the building of asylums to accommodate 1100 instead of 600 as at present. It has been found necessary to propose an increase in the wages of skilled artisan attendants and nurses, ‘owing to the unrest due to the g«ner 1 rise in Wages and the demand for those classes of labour. * One doctor, wh-le deploring this nnrest, finds some Consolation, fot he says that hoWevdr undesirable it may he from si mo points of vietv, and chiefly on account of the anxiety it causes those responsible for the management'of the institution and cote of the inmates, has some compensating advantages, not the least being ’that it .tends to diffuse a wider general knowledge of insanity and its treatment among the public, and to dispel that absurd idea -the telic o 4 the dark ages of osyiota life—that all sorts of cruelties Wnd barbarities are practised ia those institutions | thus thqre should 'betasrelOetMoe os the |>art of relatives

to; place their afflicted friends under proper institutional treatment at an earlier stage of their disease* when there is more hope of their recovery. A glance at the table of “causes* ‘ shows some very interesting facta. The highest total is 140 under the heading of *• Unknown causes,” whilst alcohol is “ runner-up *' wi h 75. Among the outstanding totals figure congenital, 52 ; hereditary, 37 ; masturbation, 37 ; senile decay, 30. Nine then, probably backblock shepherd*, and only one woman are in because of isolation and solitude; one poor unfortunate man had music mania, and another, through political excitement, went wrong. This, by the bye, shows that politics ate not taken very seriously. Religious excitement claims eight men and seven women, whilst only one man lost his head over a love disappointment. The other* probably scanned the tables showing the excess of females and decided there must be “ as good fish in the sea as ever were caught.” Overwork claimed four men and two women, and ths fa r sox only claim* nine as against a male eighteen under the head of “Domestic worry.” If those figures are worth anything, ‘ nrnre man ’ has tho worst of the battle at' homo i'f well as abroad. Perhaps the time has arrived when ‘ lovely woman ’ will recognise his growing scarcity (according to figures) and conserve tho supply of the man who “ buys the gdldeti ring.”