FARMING BY THE INSANE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3097, 21 May 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

FARMING BY THE INSANE.

In America the pauper insane are put to work on a farm at Central Tslip. The farm has been recently visited by the Commissioners, who have to report on it, and the following account is given in a New fork paper of the visit [—The view which greeted the Commissioners when the carriages which met the pai'ty bore them within sight of the farm was a pleasant one. Great level plots were laid out in carefully-planned squares with pleasant walks ; there wopj trees aud bushes, instead of picket-lined stone walls : and in the place of ramshackle hovels, dilapidated, ruined, aud foul, there were handsome, chserful-loobing buildings, with gables and piazzas, and in the best of conditiou without and within There were uo huge stoves to act as menaces without giving heat ; there was no lack of ventilation ; there was no lack of water ; the poor inmates were not forced to live, eat, aud sleep for ewr in the same room, contaminatad by their constant presence. Better than all, the inmates had room to move around in ; they were not crowded together like cattle, as they are on Black well's and Hart's Islands, and there were none of the pitiable and physically and morally repulsive scenes which made the river islands seem like a region where the accursed dwelt. The improved condition of the inmates of the City Farm, due partly to their comfortable aud humane lodgings, but in an even greater degree to the fact that they have regular, healthy employment in the open-air on the farm, has acted most beneficially on their mental state, aud instead of the great mass of sullen, stolid, and gloomy faces to be seen on Ward's Island, the majority of the insane patients on the farm are comparatively bright aud alert. The farm was started three years ago, as an experiment, on the suggestion of Dr. A. Macdouald. The land was bought during Mayor Hewitt's administration. It consists of 1000 acres, and cost 22'50d015. an acre. The total cost, including survey and searches, was 25,000d015. The laud was covered with dense thickets of scrub oak and dwarf cedars, but now about 250 acres have been entirely cleared by the work of the insane patients alone. These 250 acres are now under cultivation by the insane, and vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, parsnips, &c., are raised in fairly lai'ge quantities. It is expected that as the facilities arc increased for housing patients, so that the number of inmates may be increased, the farm can be made not ouly self-supporting, but that it can produce enousjh to furnish potatoes and market stuff in quantites sufficient to supply all the institutions on tlie islands. Last year the net gain to the institution in the yield of potatoes was 710*95d015. The cost at present for supporting the institution is 3dols. a week for each patieut. This includes food, medical attendance, heat, water, lighting, etc. The pavilions are built in three groups, each group containing throe pavilioas, and each group being arranged as tho segment of a circle. There are nine pavilions altogether, with a capacity of holdius 300 patients. They are somewhat over crowded now, but not dangerously so. There are nt present 402 patients there, all males, and all suffering from incurable dementia. Besides the pavilions there are a bakery, a laundry, a tailor and shoe shop combined, the large cook-room, store-houses, and the doctors' houses. The erection of all these buildings, and also of the bit; pumping station aud the stables, cost the city 300,000d015.

The Commissioners expressed themselves as being deliffhted with the pavilions. The only thing they lacked was electric light, and the doctors declared that au electric plant was badly needed there. Dr. A. E. Macdonald said that the experiment had proved an entire success so far. He said that tho patients not only worked on the farm willingly, but begged to be allowed to go out and work, whenever it happened that bad weather prevented them for some days. In fact, in the rare cases when it was necessary to punish a patieut, it was sufficient to deny him the liberty to work for a day or two. Naturally, when the men come back from a day's work in the finlds, their health is not only improved, but they are tired, and they go to sleep without making trouble, as most insane people do, at the approach of night. Although they are trusted with all kinds of implements, hoes, rakes, axes, and scythes (of course under constant surveillance), there has not been a single case of injury or attack since the farm was started, and only a few to escape. That it has improvad the physical condition of the patients wonderfully is shown by the fact that there has not been a single one ill in bed for a month. Garlick anu Cbanwell have just issued the most complete illustrated furnishing book catalogue that has been published in this colony. It will prove especially convenient for country customers, storekeepers, and others about to furnish. Illustrations and prices are given of hall, drawing, dinint?, and bedroom furniture. Young people about to marry will find it a great assistance in making up their list.and estimating cost of furnishing. It also shsws how a three-roomed house can be furnished for £17 10s ; four rooms for £38: five rooms for £80; six rooms for £150. Full particular;-, of bedding and iron bedsteads, and stener.il furnishing goods. You will not do better than furnish from Garlick and Cranwell, Queen-street, Auckland.

I have much pleasure in certifying to the value and powerful properties of Mr Pearson's Carbolic Sand Soap, lc is extensively used in the wards and offices of the Waikato District Hospital. The carbolic acid contained in it acts as a perfect disinfectant, the saud answers the purposes of a good cleansing agent, and the whole substances are blended together into firm cakes of a very convenient size and shape. For all domestic purposes I can strongly recommend Mr Pearsons Carbolic Sand Soap, as being a most effective and economical article, and in houses where enteric or other fevers exist it will be found especially useful. Geo. G. Kenny, M.8., &c., Surgeon Waikato Dist, Hospital