The Globe. THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1533, 16 January 1879, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1879.

In another portion of this issue is published Dr. Skae’s report on the Wellington Asylum. It is a document which, for sensationalism, transcends any of the modern novels, oven of the most pronounced Braddon type. It is in in the last degree disgraceful that in a British colony, and in the metropolis, such a state of things could exist. Dr. Skae tells us, in plain but unmistakeable terms, of the dreadful huddling together of the unfortunate inmates, like sheep in a railway truck. Two, and oven throe, are found to bo crowded into dormitories only calculated to accommodate one. Nor is this all. The passages, lavatories, and indeed every available inch of space, appears to bo taken up hy beds. In the associated dormitories, wo are told, loss than half the cubic space ordinarily considered necessary for health is allotted. What the state of these places must be on a hot summer night is something fearful to contemplate. If there is one essential in dealing with cases of insanity, it is that the patients shall have pure air and quiet. With the present state of the Wellington Asylum it is utterly impossible that they can get either. But this is not the worst feature. The unhappy patients, doomed to pass the hours ot the night in an atmosphere resembling that of the Black Hole, are still further punished by being packed into a room, in wot weather, in which they, to ueo tk? words of I)r.

Skao, are “ packed so closely together on benches that they have not room to move their elbows.” Dr. Skao goes on to say that it is absurd to protend that in its present condition the building has any claim to bo considered an asylum, and ho adds significantly, “ It would bo an undeserved compliment to call it a prison !” When addressing his constituents at Dunedin the other day, the Attorney-General, replying to the charge made by the Opposition as to the barrenness o£ the session, took his stand on what he called the “ social ” legislation of the session. Ho claimed for his Government and himself that they were social reformers of the highest order — that they, in fact, were a people’s Government. How far ho was justified in claiming this character, the state of the asylum at Wellington will show. We know that in Canterbury the inadequacy of the accommodation at our asylum, though, fortunately, not so bad as at Wellington, has for months been continually urged upon the Government, yet nothing has been done. Judging from our experience, it is more than probable that the same course has been pursued in Wellington. Yet this is the Government, the members of which claim for themselves the character of social administrators, They are primarily responsible for the state of thing detailed in Dr. Skae’s report. The condition of the asylums and gaols generally has been forcibly put before them time after time. Yet they have preferred chasing after such chimeras as the French system of subdivision of land, the theories of John Stuart Mill and others, instead of setting themselves to work to remedy the defects which are noticeable in our local institutions. The most ardent supporters of the Grey Ministry cannot deny the fact that for this lamentable state of affairs the so-called Liberal Ministry is responsible. They knew full well before last session that the gaols wore overcrowded, and utterly unclassified, and that the lunatic asylums wore a disgrace. When this was pointed out by one section of the Press of the colony it was pooh-poohed, as mere Opposition spite. But the time has come when it is proved to have boon true, unfortunately more than true. What then becomes of the boasted “ social” legislation made so much of by Mr Stout to tickle the ears of the Dunedin public, A few Bills dealing with law reform comprise the sum total. In the meanwhile wo have in our midst pesthouses and nurseries of crime in the shape of asylums and gaols. The Government who made such professions at starting have not only failed utterly to redeem them, but have by their neglect of the local institutions brought upon the colnny such shame as that which must inevitably follow after Dr, Skae’s report. To sum up the present position of the Government in a few words —They have been weighed in the balance and found wanting, and the sooner they are replaced by men who will attend to the real business of the countiy instead of airing theories and hobbies, and striving to create class hatreds, the better.