THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY APRIL 13, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9026, 12 April 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY APRIL 13, 1888.

There is no sadder phase in connection with social life in the colonies than the number of people who are obliged to be placed under restraint for insanity. Life is so intense, the strain of the struggle is so severe, that the brain reels, and reason is dethroned in such a proportion of cases as to throw a shadow over colonial life, which apart from this has so many characteristics of brightness and buoyancy. This saddening feature of life in the colonies should awaken within us all the deeper interest in the care of the insane, and to do Colonial Governments and Legislatures justice, they have truly reflected the feelings of the whole people in making a very abundant and liberal provision everywhere, for the care of those whose reason has succumbed in the struggle of life. Our lunacy provisions are not all that we would desire, but every year as it passes shows an honest effort to eliminate every evil from our Lunatic Asylums, and to make them all that they ought to be ; and we hold that it is the duty of every citizen, and more especially of every journalist, to deal honestly with this grave matter, condemning ruthlessly where condemnation is merited, and commending where commendation is due.

The report from the Official Visitors to our local Asylum, which appears in our other columns, will be perused with a good deal of interest, not only for the views expressed on the condition and conduct of the Asylum, but for the valuable suggestions and recommendations that are made, and which, we think, demand more than ordinary attention. It will be observed that Mr. Ewington reports in very favourable terms of what he has found in one of those surprise visits which are contemplated by the Lunacy Act. The visitors were struck with the tranquillity and order which reigned, and they give a very pleasing picture of the means of enjoyment afforded to the patients for relieving the tedium of their detention, and for obtaining as much of simple happiness as is compatible with their painful lot. Our local institution has passed through a rather trying ordeal in a seemingly concerted effort

to baffle the new regime, and to prevent the introduction of reforms that are de rigueur in all wellregulated asylums in England. That difficulty has now been surmounted, and we believe that in quiet discipline among the body of the attendants, and in the comfort and contentment of the inmates, so far as contentment is consistent with mental disease, and at all events in the care that is given to the wellbeing and happiness of the inmates, the Asylum at Avondale will compare very favourably with any similar institution in any part of the colonies. Of course the overcrowded state of the Asylum has been a terrible bar to efficiency, but now, with the greatlyincreased accommodation afforded in the new and handsome wing just completed for the female department, and with the number of modern appliances and improvements that have been carried out at the instance and under the direction of Dr. Cremonini, we believe that this institution bids fair to prove itself one of the most efficient, as well as the best conducted, in the colonies. The scrupulous cleanliness not only of the dormitories but the kitchens and dining halls and every other part of the establishment, the handsome and commodious reading-rooms in both the male and female divisions, and the numerous means supplied for interesting and amusing the inmates, cannot fail to arrest the attention of a casual visitor to the Asylum ; and we see that this pleasant aspect of the institution is confirmed in the impressions conveyed to the minds of the official visitors, as reported in another column. The relatives of persons detained in a lunatic asylum are often painfully sensitive on the subject of the treatment that may be given to inmates ; but we do not hesitate to express our belief from personal observation, and it is confirmed by the official visitors, that the friends of patients may feel at perfect ease in believing that the greatest kindness and consideration, that are consistent with safety and the general welfare, are shown in the treatment of the inmates at the Avondale Asylum.

We have referred to the suggestions that have been made by Mr. Ewington ; one of the most important of which is that relating to paying patients. Of course in these days of retrenchment any recommendation involving increased expenditure is not to be considered ; but the suggestion that provision should be made for those whose relatives are prepared to pay for their maintenance and treatment should surely be in the direction of economy. But apart from this there are strong reasons why this recommendation should take effect. To a man or woman accustomed to the refinements and luxuries of life, the change of itself to an humbler style of accommodation as alone can be expected on a general system supported by the. State - Oileleemosynary princes—is a sad increase to the painful circumstances of being * shut up as a lunatic; and the depressing effect of such a change cannot fail to have an injurious effect on the mind diseased. To hundreds in the Asylum the change in this respect is a small one, and probably involves an increase of comforts to which they have never been accustomed. But to those who have all their lives been surrounded by the refinements of a well-to-do home, the depression and humiliation must be such as may in the circumstances evoke the sympathy of the most rigid maintainer of the principles of democracy. And if the relatives of such a sufferer are prepared to pay for the cost of it, it is mere humanity that such a sufferer should be enabled to obtain the comforts and the refinements to which he or she was accustomed. We very cordially endorse the recommendation of the official visitors in this regard, and it surely should be within the reach of the Government to provide such accommodation without its entailing any additional expense to the community. Similarly, the boarding out of the more harmless patients would not be in the direction of expenditure, but, on the contrary, would most probably be largely in the way of economy; for certain it is that a patient boarded out would cost less than the eighty or ninety pounds a year, which as we under, stand are the average expenses of maintenance of inmates in the Asylum. That such a system would in many

casesand only in such cases should it be appliedconduce to the convalesence of the mentally diseased can hardly be questioned, and seeing that such an innovation would do no violence to the universal spirit of retrenchment, we sincerely hope that it will be taken into the consideration of the Govern* ment.

To the impropriety and illegality of detaining persons in a lunatic asylum j who have no right to be there, we have referred again and again. It is largely owing to the culpable misconduct of the Charitable Aid Board in misapplying the Costley Trust to relieve the pockets of the ratepayers, instead of the distresses of the poor, and illustrates how often selfishness controls the course of people who are promoted to public position. The turning the Costley bequest to its proper purpose of providing a Refuge would remove one-half of this abuse of the Lunatic Asylum, and enable that institution to devote all its available resources to the treatment of the really insane; and we can only hope that more honourable counsels will yet prevail, and that the silent constant force of the public sense of justice will ultimately have this wrong removed. With the suggestions made as to the greater stringency in guarding against wrongful committals to the Asylum, as to the necessity for separate treatment of inebriates ; as to the unwisdom of enlarging lunatic asylums in lieu of dispersing the lunatics in smaller institutions or in private homes; and as to the wrongfulness of having any patient detained after convalescence, we cordially sympathise; but while these suggestions point out ways in which action may be judiciously taken for improving the condition and prospects •of those who are afflicted with the saddest loss of all, the loss of reason, it is satisfactory to know, and to find confirmed by this report, that our local institution for the relief of these sufferers is now . being carried on in ' a manner calculated to give confidence and satisfaction to anyone feeling sympathy for the condition of the insane.

It is seldom that a Native Minister has ! reason to be contented with the ex-1 pressed desires of natives in respect to legislation on their lands, as the Maoris usually take some eccentric direction which proves more or less embarrassing. But, at the Otorohanga meeting (reSorted elsewhere), the natives seem to ave been clear and decided on the important points. They are thoroughly dissatisfied with the legislation of the late Government, especially as embodied in the Administration Act, and are earnest that it should -be repealed. There can be no doubt that the expression of their wishes on this point is thoroughly voluntary, and has not been stimulated or prompted by any action on the part of the Government. ■ It has certainly not been elicited by any Europeans who are anxious to purchase their lands ; for at present Europeans are less eager to purchase than natives are to sell. The Hon. the Native Minister had, therefore, no difficulty in promising that one of the first pieces of business of the session would be to repeal the Administration Act. As to the better -working of the Native Land Court, that is a point on which the wishes of the natives should be consulted. It is ,very much to the interest of Europeans that when the Court awards lands to any Maori or Maoris the decision should be final, that it should be fair and just and right between parties, so that Europeans who may purchase may not be subjected to any annoyance in law courts or otherwise. As to the extension of the telegraph along the line, which the Maoris have asked for, we can only say that we hope their petitions will be more promptly attended to than ours have been. We have little doubt as to the opinion of the Maoris all over the island, but we do not feel quite satisfied that the Government will be able to carry the votes of all the Maori members. Mr. Taiwhanga, for instance, wants to be sent to England at the expense of the colony, to make certain representations, and unless he is gratified in this, he will vote against the Government proposals. The natives now assembled at Otorohanga are those most interested in the new legislation, because to them belongs nearly the whole of what is known as the Kins Country. It is gratifying to find that the disposition to shut themselves up with their land has entirely passed away, that they are solicitous that all disabilities should be abrogated, and that they care about such points as that the native names of the places should be retained for the railway stations.