OUR ASYLUMS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10132, 3 September 1898, Page 7

OUR ASYLUMS.

Wo do not know whether the Government intend to do anything by way of remedying the overcrowded condition-of the Lunatic Asylums.' So far the only definite proposal we have seen is to get out an assistant inspector from Europe— Germany, we fancy—at a salary of £760 a* year. Either Government do not realise the serious condition of affairs in connection with the overcrowding, or else they treat the matter with a most unbecoming spirit of levity and indifference. It is suggested, for example, that the visitors' room at Sunny side should be used to add to the sleeping accommodation. Anyone who has visited the Asylum knows how absurd this idea is. To begin with, tho room in question is •absolutely necessary for the purposes to which it is at present put. It is the room in which the medical officer sees friends of patients and other persons who come on business ; also the room in which inquests are held. At most it would hold half-a-dozen beds, but being isolated from the main building and close to the entrance, it altogether unsuited for use as a dormitory, owing to the difficulty of keeping proper surveillance over the patients. Dr. Macgregor in his last report says that "on the male "side of the asylum fifty-two "patients in excess of dormitory capacity were scattered all about the building sleeping in shakedowns on "the floor." In the face of this it is ■imply childish to speak of using the visi-l-ora' room — even if it were suitable, which it is not—as if that was all that was necessary in order to cope with the difficulty. Again, the Premier attempted to draw, a herring across the scent by .implying that money was wasted in cycling tracks and other sinful luxuries at asylums. This is a gross exaggeration. The only fact that gives any possible colour to the suggestion is that at Seacliff there is a sunken fence or ha-ha, bounding a portion of the grounds, that »t has been found necessary to asphalt the bottom of the fosse to keep out tho Wet, and that one of the officials, who -* an enthusiastic" cyclist, occasionally tries his machine on this so-called track." Possibly he did so on the occasion of some ministerial visit, and if, as we believe, this is the sole -foundation for Mr. Seddon's gibe, it shows how very small-minded leading politicians in New Zealand may become. Frivolous excuses of. this kind are no answer to the emphatic wn;-ings and recommendations of the Government Inspector, Dr. Macgregor, and the medical officers in charge of the various institutions. The Superintendent of Seacliff, for example, Sports that during the year thirty-four patients died— nearly °" per cent. of the number under treatment!— that "this unusually high death-rate must be attri-* to the overcrowded state of the asylum." Again, Br. Macgregor says that "If our Parliament would escape the v Caar ge of inhuman apathy in the treatof the mentally diseased they at once insist on sufficient accomniodation in our asylums; and as soon „as possible thereafter they will make a prevision for the criminal insane and for idiots and imbeciles." The public will agree that, holding these, views, Dr. Macgregor would be criminally negligent if he did not endeavour to ""press them both on the Ministry and on the House with all the earnestness in I" 3 Power. They will agree also that it w the imperative duty of the Ministry to tpe action in the matter, and if they are '«ow to do so, it is incumbent on the "PPoaiUon to try to atir thorn u>. la«

Opposition have endeavoured to arouse the Government to a sense of the importance of this matter. Captain Russell and Mr. Rolleston have been especially earnest in urging that something should be done. And what was the result? A speech from the Premier, in which he said that the Inspector of Asylums "had " been brought into such close connection "with the Opposition as would probably "ultimately lead him to exclaim, 'Save "mc from my friends.'" There is no mistaking the hidden menace conveyed in this speech. It is in effect a threat j that if Dr. Macgregor goes on doing his duty by reporting that the asylums are shamefully overcrowded, and thus making the Government feel uncomfortable, the Government may dispense with his services, and so put a stop to his troubling them. That such a menace should be uttered in the presence of Parliament by the Premier of the colony seems to us little short of infamous. It is an obvious attempt to intimidate a leading officer in the Civil Service from doing his duty, and if public opinion in this colony was what it ought to be a Minister who could use such a threat would be at once deprived of the trust he had so grossly betrayed. As regards the appointment of an assistant inspector, there is no doubt that Dr. Macgregor has at present more to do than he can attend to properly. It is too much to expect one man to supervise hospitals, charitable aid, and lunatic asylums in this colony, now that all these branches of expenditure have attained such formidable dimensions. We do not see the necessity, however, of going to Europe for an assistant inspector. For the salary offered, only a junior could be obtained—a man of probably less experience than the medical men in charge of our principal asylums. If it is determined to have an assistant inspector, it would be only fair to offer the appointment to one of these gentlemen. Thereis another arrangement, however, whicn is worthy of consideration. It is that charitable aid should be separated from hospitals and lunatic asylums .A medical expert is necessary for the latter, but charitable aid could be supervised quite as efficiently by a Civil servant who is a good administrator and has some knowledge of political economy and social science. It ,is possible this might be a more satisfactory way of dealing with the matter than by appointing an assistant Inspector of Asylums. The most urgent question, however, is that of providing increased accommodation, and Government will incur a very grave responsibility if they allow the session to pass over without taking steps to remedy the evil.