OVER 8000 INSANE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2340, 9 January 1926, Page 4

OVER 8000 INSANE

PROPERTY WORTH £1,000,000. “That lunacy is an Important feature in the economic life of New South Wales is proved by the fact that the value of the properties managed by the Master in Lunacy Is estimated to exceed £1,000,000.’’ In making this statement the New South Wales Minister for Health (Mr Cann) said that the number of patients admitted to the mental hos pltals since January 1, 1925, was 1872 which brought the total number of inmates up to 8379. About one-quar-ter of these, he declared, owned pro perty. The trust moneys collected amount ed to over £200,000 a year, and the acoumu'ated funds Invested exceeded £635.000. Most of this had been in vested in a general fund, the earnings of which were distributed half-yearly on a basis of monthly net balances the average rate of interest being 54 per cent, a year. Pull responsibility for the adminls tration of the estates owned by tht afflicted patients is taken by the Master in Lunacy, with the proviso that relatives and others are afforded an opportunity of giving advice and help when they are willing and able to do so., Last year the revenue collected by the department was over £75,000.