11

H.—7

should be added to the salary an amount representing the estimated cost of the emoluments. As deductions would be made from the full amount there should be no actuarial objection. One can, however, understand such objection being made to lessening the retiring-age. I had contended for a reduction of five years on the score of the unfitness of many at present retiring ages for the active duties of their office, but your suggestion of a still further reduction in recognition of the nature of the work and to make the service attractive would indeed be appreciated, could a scheme be devised that would not imperil the fund, for example, by the payment of a higher premium for the first decade, a reduction for the second, and the ordinary premium thereafter. The following nurses and attendants passed the senior examination : their names have been added to the Register of Mental Nurses: —Annie Armitage, Charles H. Bassett, John Bell, Thomas Y. Brown, Mary C. Erlandson, Emilio French, Lilian M. Grant, William Robert Gordon, Mary Horan, George W. E. King, Elsie Lindsay, William Marshall, Ethel McKerrow, Ethel M. McEachen, Marjorie Naylor, William Service Peters, Bernard W. Rawson, Arthur J. Ray, Mildred Alice Rudkin, Arthur George Rutter, Ethel Sharkey, Bertha Shaw, Samuel Smith, Elizabeth Stephen, Ethel Walker, Jane Ward. Visits of Inspection. The District Inspectors and Official Visitors have made numerous visits of inspection, and show an interest in their duties and a regard for the mentally defective which is most helpful. The Assistant Inspector has also made the usual round of inspections. During my visits patients desiring a special interview were accorded it, patients who had written to me on any matter were interviewed thereon, and many patients were brought particularly under my notice by the Medical Superintendent. In all these cases the circumstances were thoroughly gone into. They practically resolved themselves into a desire for liberty on the part of patients either manifestly unfitted for it or seeking it somewhat prematurely. In all the last-named cases the patients were open to reason. The reports of the Medical Superintendents addressed to me are appended hereto. Auckland Mental Hospital I visited in March and June of 1911, and in January, February, April, and May of this year. The difficulties always attendant upon the management and administration of such an institution have been greatly increased by the large excess of patients over accommodation, especially on the male side. The delay in commencing the permanent buildings at Tokanui, to which it was intended to draft the excess, then less formidable, and later the abandonment at the last moment of the plan for building on the Mental Hospital Endowment site, on the reef, were calculated to make those working under difficulties despondent. Dr. Beattie especially, but also his Senior Assistant, Dr. Scott-Watson, his officers, and the tried members of the staff have passed through a period of stress and are to be congratulated, though the measure at present be temporary, on the immediate prospect of a return to normal conditions. The numbers of suicidal and dangerous, especially among women patients, have been above the average. The employment of patients is well considered, and as many as possible are encouraged to work. The workers represented among the men somewhat over 60, and among the women somewhat under 50 per cent. The returns from the farm and garden are highly creditable. On every occasion the food inspected was of a good quality and abundant. The bowling-green is a source of relaxation, and much enjoyed by the patients and staff. They play well and hold their own with local clubs. The value of such games in promoting good will between the patients and staff is very great. A patient remarked to me, "We are very keen ; in the afternoon we play all we are worth, and in the evening talk over the shots and wish we'd had a second chance with some of them." There is a tennis-lawn in the Wolfe Bequest Hospital grounds. These grounds, well laid out, are fast losing the raw aspect of newness, and the little hospital serves a useful purpose and is much appreciated by the inmates. There is not sufficient flat land on the estate to serve for a cricket and football ground, which is a pity, because these games stimulate an espirit de corps, which is most valuable, and afford pleasure to numerous spectators. Here has been a difficulty in filling vacancies in the junior staff, especially of nurses. Possibly working under difficulties has discouraged some, but there has been a shortage of applicants, and these, speaking generally, have not been up to the past standard. The trouble is not confined to institutional service, but is part of the shortage of female labour recognized to exist by manufacturers and, especially, by persons seeking domestic help. This last case has an important bearing on the question, because the wage of domestic servants has risen, and the town, with its picture-shows, has attractions compared with a disciplined service until familiarity proves its advantages, and the annual increments to salary carry the nurse from a figure which is relatively low to one far above what she could have risen to as a servant. Be the cause what it may, there is not among applicants the proportion of young women whom one immediately recognizes as the material of which devoted nurses are made. Possibly the high wage paid for domestic help is attracting a better class in that direction. Typewriting may also lessen the supply, and farmers' daughters, once a source from which we recruited, have become too valuable to the dairy farm or orchard to be spared. Sunnyside Mental Hospital I visited in June, July, November, and December of 1911, and in April of this year. On one of these occasions I had to return before completing the inspection, but all that I saw then and on the other occasions, when I went in detail into matters, satisfied me that the institution is under competent management, and that the staff is working harmoniously. The number of patients usefully employed is high —practically all with the exception of those physically and mentally unfitted. A concrete reservoir has been erected with the assistance of patients' labour, and other works have been carried out. The farm is conveniently situated for patients to be employed under supervision, and there is a proportion, somewhat over the average who, though unfit to work outside, have adjusted themselves to certain minor duties, which, magnifying their importance, they execute with pride. This is an ideal existence for a patient unfit for discharge. The resources for the recreation of the