THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1911. THE MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15273, 13 October 1911, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1911. THE MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Tin-: annual report of the IrmpoctorSjciieral of Menial Hospitals for the Dominion does. not. this v<*ir pnw>r«< any jKlrtirulavly arresting feature. The six institutioiw provided by the Stat« for tll« necommodation of the mentally afflicted

now contain an average aggregate population of alx.Mit 3500 patients, and this inmiber is inereiuswl yearly to tho extent of niLhec more than a hundred jiersons. 11, would seem that tho Stnt« should have litlJe dilliciiltv in judging as to the mtllicieticy of the hospital aceoituinalalion availalile, oi' a-, to the neul for its siive ilw iiK-reiiy.- in the mimb.'i' of pati;'Hlt> to b? provided for c.an b,i estimated with .some meagre, of certointy. As we have i-ecn, however, tho r.'sponr.ble Departii:enl. h;v> not alwavs kept the hosjiitJil accommodation coinmensnrat,. with the number of tluw for whom provision muet bo made. It has (ih'iwn a dispi'sition to wait till the evil of nvrrpwdini: ha? manifested itself hefoce taking for il,;i ivlii f the stc|* which might have been t-iken t.o guard against it. 'Hie dis>'lo.-urcs a. month or two with reforen."e to the accommodation :,l tho Avandalu Mentai showed that ovorcrowdin;; existed to a somewhat

.wioiif, extent, aml the which I occurred last, week ;it l'odniu, when one }i;vtiont attacked .ind lieat another to death, throw fume light on an undesirable | cowlitßMi of affairs at thai institution, the c.iironM , 's jury recommending that the Attention of the (iovermuont lie failed to tlm overcrowded statu of Ihi3 hospital, where it had lwmno itccessary to ir.?e day-rooms (is dormitories. In the departmental report fur 1909 it was mentioned as a matter of fact thai, the mental luspital at Porirua, although IIiCH cmttainiiig more than 150 fewer patients than at the beginning of the present year—i.ho Mount View Hospital at. Wellington was dosed in Juno of last year,—had for the urea and quality of its land just about reached the limit of the number of patients that could Ik; economically managed on the estate. At Iho of 1911 the institution at l'orirua contained just upon 900 patients, a total even gß'ater than that at Seael.iff, and the increase, as the medical superintendent indicates, sttamixxl the additional buildings thai had boon provided, rendering it necessary to vrmvrt to various expedients in order t.l.iat accommodation might 1» .secured for the inmates. Overcrowding, however, is n subject which practically does not figure .in iho IrfiiiiTtor-.gene.rarp latest report, ratlmr curious as the fact may .■wm. I>r Hay ob-nrws that ona m-.iy fairly • assume an animal expenditure of £12.0LiC ! to £15,000 in buildingr, to keep pace with i the increasing number (if admissions. ami adds: " Hut for the next two years a j sum largely in exee-s of this is liccos- ] sa<y, csjiccially ns surplus nccommo.'la- ' tioit was one of the features of the classili- | cation ficluune we cryisidered." For tho I

rw;f. lli,> Inspeiitor-gCHOTal's report suggests that tlic management of our mental lin«pitsl!s is vrry satisfactory, anil that llk> supervision of tho Department is onlii;litoii«l nml progrrssive. The admissions to tiii'SC institutions during tho past yw m'kih to have been unusually iniinoroua— higher iu proportion lo population lhatt at. a.r.y lime during Uw past ton year?,— ami in this connection wo arc reminded of tin, report of the lSrii.ifiti l'oyal Coin mission on the care ond control of tin* icebic-ininded, before which Sir Edward Fry stated in e.vidcnce: "The ranks of the insane, as welt as of the imbecile, arc iveniitc-d from ilia children of the feeble-minded. ... In the ruder .stale of sDcictv which lias passed away littl" Ikc;I wiiis taken of these unfortunate cliildu*n r (in.il many of them, no doubt. died comparatively early in the struggle for existence. Knt we nave learned to think more tenderly of the inferior members of the race, ond we seok to protect them from the calamities ami sufferings f> which they aw naturally e.ypoped, and to preserve their Jives to tl:c utmost. But iti i«i doing, and so doing rightly, wo incur, it appears to me, another respoii.silvlity—namely, that of preventing, so fai as we reasonably can the perpetuation of a low type of Immunity, (or otherwise the lwiieficeiuv 'of Mile generalion become;- the burden ami injury if all Murced:n» ones." Tho conclusion of tlw CoHimi.'-sionoiv, it may lie remembered, was thuL tile evidence brought before them strongly .supported the adoption of measures for placing mentally defective ]ersoi:«, hum and Won,en, who are living at iiirep and niKontiollcd, in institution.when? tliey v.ill lie employed si ml doU'.inu! ■and in this and in other ways ly» kept under supervision so long as may i I>.: nscessary. Certain it is that the j Slate, which from year U- year enlarges

itct institutions to accommodate ine.iita.! pat'ouls, cannot congratulate mi pnrrvmj; c.tl tiic t/isk of oaring for such 'in either tlu> most economical or Hirst limramtarian linco conceivable so lung ns it miilun ii'i wri-cnw effort at th» prevention of tin; hereditary Ininsmisjicu <•' mental daft cl. Tho care and jejjregiitioti ol the feeble-minded constitute i\ tail; supplementary to hut hardly less iiiijutrtiuH in itself than that cf accommodating thi absolutely inswc awl intractable. " Commonly ihc ilupoitant factor," observes ])r Uav, " which nuiko.i th L » dilfeivuce when on.' individual decs ami another <lw not become insane under a like strws is a tendency which may be and commonly is traiisniitU'd hy hemlity. In this connection it may not ho out of place to express a hope that the community will take full advantage of tliii Eugenics Edncation S.x-ielies which have ken founded 'lire ii;g of individuals, as matters are, is thought to lie the outcome of free choice: but to the right .ami left are artificial barriers which Jew overleap. . . . Willi the spread of knowledge and higher idylls it is not too much to hope that in time there will arise the eugenic iiai'rier which will as naturally exclnido from i-vlcction the pa|]iulilv tinjfit."