H.—l

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estimates, for it is incurred in carrying out a very important part of the moral treatment of the insane, and it is beyond dispute or doubt that in many instances it furnishes the essential basis for recovery. 2. Provide extended means of employment, both for men and women. Male patients should be employed, under proper supervision, to do whatever useful work is required to be done in an asylum. There is always work for skilled tradesmen as well as for rough labourers. Now, inasmuch as employment is an element in their treatment, whilst their labour effects a saving in the management of the home they live in, it is necessary to empower the Medical Superintendent to provide proper tools for carpenters, bricklayers, painters, tailors, shoemakers and to provide from time to time materials necessary for their work. Some small indulgences are looked for, and should be given to such patients, as, e.g., a little extra diet or tobacco, a little extra liberty to walk beyond bounds, or to sit up later at night, a better suit of clothes for Sundays, and so on. The female patients should do all the work which would naturally fall to their share if they were out of doors, viz. household work in their own division, washing, making and mending clothes for the whole establishment, and doing such fancy work for the decoration of the rooms as may come within the scope of their capabilities. It is well to make it a matter of duty for attendants to work with their patients, and to this end there should be amongst the male attendants a few artisans; and amongst the females, some dressmakers, machinists, tailoresses, and the like. 3. Complete carriage road from front gate to building, so as to give a place'for exercise of convalescent and strong patients, who are now kept indoors except in very fine weather. In connection with this work, a post and rail fence should be put up along the^ plantation, which might then be more thickly planted with success. 4. Provide small fire-engine with hose, buckets, and ladders. 5. Appoint a male and a female night attendant to be on duty and move through their respective divisions at stated intervals between 7 or 8 p.m. and 6 or 7 a.m.,* and to do no duty by day. Insane persons ought to be watched at night, and attendants who are on day duty cannot properly watch them. With regard to day attendants, the proportion to patients should be not less than one to every ten, exclusive of head and night attendants. 6. Place night lamps in all galleries and dormitories,, making the night attendants responsible for keeping them lighted and for putting them out before they go off duty. 7. Appoint all attendants (who should be selected by the Superintendent and approved by the Inspector) on probation for three months. At the end of this term the probationer to be confirmed in the appointment or relieved from duty, according as the report of the Medical Superintendent is favourable or otherwise as to fitness and capacity. The age of men on appointment should be from thirty to thirty-five years, and that of women from twentvfive to thirty years. With regard to salaries of attendants, I would suggest that those of the men commence at a higher rate than at present, say at £65, and that they be allowed a yearly increment of £5, until they are in receipt of .£IOO a year. The salaries of the women might commence at £40, and they might be given a yearly increment of £2 until they reached £50 a year. The attendants, in addition to salary, should have quarters in the Asylum, rations, fuel, light, and water; and I would recommend, in addition, that three or four of the senior men who are married should be allowed each a cottage within the Asylum precincts, on condition that they hold themselves ready to do duty whenever they may be called upon by the officers on an emergency. This privilege of free quarters for wife and family is much valued by good Asylum servants; and the prospect of obtaining it as a reward for length of service and meritorious conduct has the effect of retaining deserving men, and of preventing those frequent changes which inevitably take place in a staff to which no prospective advantages are held out. E. Paley.

APPENDIX l.—C. Nelson Lunatic Asylum. 14th September, 1872. I have this day made an official inspection of the Nelson Asylum, have seen all the patients and examined minutely every part of the building occupied by them, as well as the airing yards and grounds appropriated to their use. At the time of my visit there were 45 patients on the roll, viz. 30 males and 15 females. Ten of the men were engaged in gardening, wood-cutting, and helping in the general work of the house. One man was secluded on account of his dangerous and destructive tendencies; one was confined to bed by general paralysis; and the rest were exercising in a small enclosed yard where there was nothing to interest or amuse them. Of the 15 female patients, four were occupied by household duties; two (idiots, subject to epilepsy) were shut up in a small yard, from which I was told they were never taken except to the rooms in which they slept. The remainder of the women were without occupation of any kind. With the exceptions above stated, the patients were in fair bodily health, and, for the most