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1919. NEW ZEALAND.

MENTAL HOSPITALS OF THE DOMINION (REPORT ON) FOR 1918.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Hon. the Minister in Charge of Department for the Care of Mental Defectives to His Excellency the Governor-General. My Lord,— Wellington, Ist October, 1919. I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the report of the Inspector-General of Mental Defectives for the year 1918. I have, &c, F. H. D. Bell, Minister in Charge of Department for the Care of Mental Defectives. The Inspector-General to the Hon. Sir Francis Bell, the Minister in Charge of the Department for the Care of Mental Defectives. Sir, — Wellington, Ist September, 1919. 1 have the honour to inform you that my report addressed to the, Hon. G. W. Russell was completed before he relinquished and you assumed the administration of the Department. Under the circumstances I now present the report to you, together with an appendix of later date dealing with soldier patients from the beginning of the war to the 4th August, 1919. I have, &c, Frank Hay. The Inspector-General to the Hon. G. W. Russell, the Minister in Charge of the Department for the Care of Mental Defectives. Sir,— Wellington, 28th June, 1919. I herewith present the report for the year ended 31st December, 1918. A summary and analysis of the statistical tables in the appendix shows that the number of patients on the register at the beginning of the year was 4,515 (m., 2,61.1 ; I., 1,904) ; at the end 4,546 (m., 2,603 ;' f., 1,943) —a decrease of 8 males and an increase of 39 females. The total number under care during the year was 5,408 (tu., 3,093 ; f., 2,315), being 148 (m., 31 ; f., 117) more than in 1917, while the average number resident, 1,501 (m., 2,602 ; f., 1,899,) was 133 (m., 59 ; f., 74) in excess. The ratio of patients on the register to population, exclusive of Maoris, was 40-46 per 10,000 (m., 47-30 ; f., 33-9), or 1 patient in 247 (m., 211 ; f., 295) ; including Maoris-their number on the register is 61 only—the figures are 39-26 per 10,000 (m., 45-79 ;f„ 32-95), or lin 255 (m. 218 ;L, 303). The admissions (excluding transfers —m., 45 ; f., 9) numbered 839 (m., 437 ; f., 402) ; the male admissions were, 33 lower and the female 28 higher than in the previous year. Among these admissions are included 7 immigrants (1 with a history of previous attacks) who had been here for less than a year, and 35 New-Zealanders were admitted after return from abroad (2 with a history of previous attacks). Of the 839 cases admitted, one-sixth were of patients who had previously been treated to recovery in our institutions, leaving the number of first admissions 704 (m., 381 ; I., 323), a decrease of 30 males and an increase of 25 females compared with 1917. The ratio of admissions to population (excluding Maoris) was 7-37 per 10,000, and for first admissions 6-23, or, in other words, every 1,357 persons in the general population contributed an admission, and every 1,606 a first admission. The previous decennial average was 7-57 and 6-26,

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