TREATMENT OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22336, 25 February 1938, Page 10

TREATMENT OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES

TO THB EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir,—From .time to time, suggestions are made by persons who have at heart the welfare of' their less fortunate fellows, looking toward the betterment of the institutions in which these are cared for. So remote is an understanding of the principles and aims of mental hygiene from most of our taxpayers, who ultimately must shoulder responsibility for the conduct of our asylums, that these places might almost as well be located on another planet. Those who have taken the trouble to acquire some first-hand knowledge of conditions within the grim walls, accordingly find limited support in their campaign for the improvement of such details as staffing, building, feeding, sorting out, and segregation of patients. . To inform ourselves we can turn to the writings of authorities such as Dr. Bernard Hollander, of London, and Dr. Edward Kempf, of New York. Page after page they devote to carefully considered criticisms of the mental hospitals systems in Britain, and America. We might well reflect that our institutions here in New Zealand are in many ways behind those abroad. To bring our methods of handling our afflicted brethren into line with standard practice in other countries will require, not merely a bed here, a doctor there, but an overhaul* of the entire system. An honest investigation would be the first step. Far from resting content with the camouflage of a change of name, let us convert the asylums we still at grievous cost maintain ,into true mental hospitals, capable of bearing comparison with the best' that older countries have brought into being—Yours, etc.. MacG. WALMSLEY. Timaru,. February 23, 1938.