REPORTS ON LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN NEW ZEALAND.

9

D.—No. 29.

No. 7. The Cilaieman, County Council, Westland, to the Hon. the Colonial Secretaky. Sie,— County Chairman's Office, Hokitiki, 3rd May, 1870. I have the honor to forward herewith a Report from the Inspector of Lunatics for the County of Westland, for the half-year ending 31st December, 1869. I have, Ac, C. Hoos, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Chairman of the County Council. Enclosure in No. 7. Mr. G. G. FitzGeeald to the Hon. the Colonial Secbetaey. Sie, — Hokitika, 10th January, 1870. I have the honor to report as follows, for the half-year ended 31st December, 1869, on the lunatics confined in the Asylum on the Hospital Reserve, in the Upper Gaol, and in the Sunnyside Lunatic Asylum in the Province of Canterbury, whose maintenance is a charge on the revenue of the County of Westland. The total number of lunatics in confinement in the above establishment, at the charge of the County, on the 31st of December last, was thirty-four, divided thus : —At Sunnyside, four males and two females, total six ; at the Hokitika Lunatic Asylum, three males and eight females, total eleven ; at the Upper Gaol, seventeen males and no females. For each lunatic sent from Westland to the Sunnyside Asylum the County is charged twenty-two shillings per week during his or her detention. The exact expense of conveyance I am unable to furnish, but to the coach faro —about £6 10s. per head —must be added cost of food and lodging during the journey, and double coach fare, pay, and travelling expenses of the constable or other person in charge. I understand from you that the Canterbury Government have, since 26th January, 1869, declined to receive any more lunatics from Westland into their Asylum, unless the County will bear the expense of enlarging the existing buildings. I have not visited the Sunnyside Asylum, but I have ascertained that the inmates are well cared for in every way. The Hokitika Lunatic Asylum is a small wooden building erected on the Hospital Reserve, on the south side of the Hokitika. It contains six patients' bedrooms, or cells, each of them six feet by eight feet, and about ten feet high, and lighted with skylights ; a bathroom of the same size as the cells, and furnished with a fixed zinc bath ; a patients' sitting room, and a bedroom for the attendants. There is a detached closet. There is no sitting-room for the attendant and his family, and they are compelled, therefore, to use that occupied by the patients ; their bedroom opens into the sitting-room. There is no padded room. There is no securely fenced ground for exercise. The cooking is done in the Hospital kitchen, and the hot water for baths has to be carried in buckets from the same place. The male prisoners usually take their meals in the cells. They are rationed according to a scale framed by the late Surgeon Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr. Byley, and I have had no complaints as to its quality or efficiency. A few yards from the Asylum there are a bowling-green and bowls, but there are no books belonging to the Asylum. There are no indoor amusements, such as cards, chess, &c, &e. The male patients are locked in their cells in wet weather, and owing to faulty construction the skylights have then to be closed, the rain finding its way in considerable quantities when they are left open. These skylights afford the only means of ventilation, and when they are shut the cells become very close. Two patients are frequently confined in one cell. Sometimes three patients have been locked up together when the attendant has been pressed for room. For the same reason patients have occasionally been placed in the bathroom. The male patients who are well enough assist in any work which may be in progress in the Hospital grounds and garden. A few of them have latterly been of much assistance. The female patients repair the clothing belonging to the establishment. The staff consists of the keeper and medical officer —both offices filled by Dr. Maunsell, the Surgeon Superintendent of the Hospital; the clerk, who also holds the post of dispenser in the Hospital; and the attendant, Mr. Cook. Mrs. Cook takes charge of the female patients. An additional attendant is employed when necessary. " The Lunatic Act, 1868," directs that at every Asylum certain books shall be kept. The clerk informs me that the Medical Journal and Visitation Book, and the Patients' Book are wanted to complete the set. I am satisfied from my own observation that the staff have done all in their power to work the institution to the best advantage. No complaints of harsh usage, or of insufficient or bad food and clothing, have been made to me. The patients always appear clean and neat. In my opinion Mr. and Mrs. Cook, the persons who are in constant attendance on the patients, are deserving of great commendation for the manner in which they have performed their difficult duties—the more so that their own accommodation and comfort appear to have been entirely overlooked by the Government. As I before observed, the only spot in the Asylum they can call their own is a small bedroom, the door of which opens on the lunatics' sitting-room. The Asylum building, such as it is, is in tolerable repair, and the rooms are kept very clean. More than two-thirds of our male lunatics are confined in the Upper Gaol. There are no female lunatics detained there. The average number for the six months ended 31st December, 1869, was twelve. There has been a steady increase during that period of ten, or not quite two every month. Their general treatment may be described as follows : —The lunatics have, during the daytime, the entire use of one side of the labour yard. They are always under the eye of the warder, on the raised platform which overlooks the yard. The chief warder has them in his special charge. The medical officer of the gaol, the County Surgeon, visits the lunatics, on an average, twice a week. There has been no case of sickness amongst them during the six months. They never take exercise outside the gaol enclosure. Some of them chop wood, and one, a carpenter, does a little work at his trade. A few books and slates are provided, but there arc no cards, chess, &c. The lunatics bathe 3