THE YARRA BEND.

Southland Times, Volume 3, Issue 102, 17 October 1863, Page 6

THE YARRA BEND.

.;, .: \,. r .. ;. , the, Argus j. •- , .{■, ; :",•■":; j : . The pc casionaL ; visits. , to •>^Melbourne, of I ijßjshpp Wileson, 1 f:\vith. ;Ulrose name the re-; • form : of/ that , wretched * disgrace— -Yarra 1 i Bend-^has -beenso long .'associated, are, always welcome, and never" unprofitable. ; : G/harity'arid the i mitigation of the miseries 6f (; his kind "constitute the mission of Dr ; Wilesdn Wherever; he .. gbibs, and of this he ' never Ip'ses sight! Where gop& is to be. clone or evil, undone, there the. Roman Catholic Bishop of Tasmania is' to be found, as much by inclination -as in virtue, . of his .office. , To -us his; visits are" of. special valaev He has watched l ihe progress of the Yarra Bend Asylum — whether . for better or wo'rse-^-from the beginning. From 1856, when he first saw the 4sylum he has consistently raised his voice against both the Asylum and its site. A various times since '56 he has revisited the place, j fresh from the well-conducted hospital for i the insane in his own diocese, each time I noting the changes which have taken place, I and urging the necessity of others. He is even, better qualified to do this* than persons who are always on the spot, as he sees with I a clearer and less .prejudiced eye theitftI provements which have been made, and thoso which are still needed. He can credit us with what has been done, and debit us with what remains to be done. His last I visit of which he. speaks in the letter printed in Tuesday's Argus, affords ample evidence of the benefit his visits are calrulated to confer. He cheerfully acknowledges the" marked change" which has taken place since the great libel case. He especially remarks upon this change as fchown in the appearance of the violent and refractory. The to al absence of personal restraint in that class, naturally struck him. In the whole institution, containing 850 patients, "neither strait-waistcoat, belt round thebody, to which the hands could be secured, nor indeed any other instrument of coercion, could be found." The general tranquility of the most pitiable class — the violent and refractory — he sa}s, was strikingly evident " The change from the former violence and painful restraint," as he mildly and charitably chai-ac erizes the horrors which used at one time to curdle the hlood of the most hai-d-hearted even to hear of, "is quite a subject of congratulation." But he slill calls to mind what all of us, knowing that a vast improvement has taken place in the condition of the inmates, are too apt to lose sight of, that nothing further can be said "in favor of this illselected site, and ill-constructed place." The gloom of the sombre valley, the pools of water standing everywhere on its claypan soil, the doleful prison-like cells and wards, the crowded state of the whole estabisJnnent, " 850 patients be it remembered, all combine in causing me," he says, " to lament that it still exists, notwithstanding that all is now clone that can be done for such a place." We have every reason to believe that this is the case. We do not doubt that what "can be done for such a place" is now done. But the place itself necessi- ! tates much beiivjf left undone which ou^ht j to be done. We believe we are correct in saying that, with the number of patients it now contains, the Yava Bend Asylum, j ceases, as a lr alter of course and necessity, to be an hospital for the cure of the insane ' — if ever it could be this — and becomes a mere receptacle for 8-">0 mad people, among whom curative treatment, as it is now understood, is a simple impossibility. They j can inly be herded together, fed at the usual hour, and locked up at night in a dreary rouiine from day to day to the of their miserable existence. Dr. Wilson points out a means by which this state of things may be partly remedied, and which has been recommended by the Lunacy Commission. It is to erect acoomodation on the Kew site for one hur.ered. or two hundred of the more quiet and orderly patients, who could be employed in clearing ground, or in other useful labor. This would, of course, be immensely to the benefit of those drafted off, while it would so far relieve the old asylum that it might be made in some measure an hospital for the cure of the insane, .and not a mere madhouse, where cure is scarcely to he hoped for. But this recommendation was, we have reason to believe, met by a refusal fiom the Government, who yet, we understand, are prepared to expend L 5,000 or so for the " accommodation" of more, patients at the Yarra Bend. Now, against the throwing away of more public money upon this wretched place, which has been universally condemned, by all competent judges, as entirely unfit for the , purpose to which it is now devoted, we must, on behalf of the public, enter our strongest protest. It would be a breach of faith, a defiance of common sense, and a gi'oss cruelty to the most afflicted of human beings, thus to giant as it were, a new lease of existence to this place. Moreover, we know from experience that every additional sum expended on the present site, affords a new argument in the bands of the interested few who still oppose the removal of this foul blot on the colony. Another suggestion of the commissioners, that wards be attached to hospitals for the reception of lunatics, the Government have promised to adopt. An additional reason nrgel by the Lunacy Commission for more accommodation, is, that the crowded state of the Yai'ra Bend renders it necessary still to send patients to gaols. Even the Western Gaol, which it was supposed had finaHy ceased to be used for this cruel purpose, i again brought into requsition. The public will be, and have a right to be. indignant to learn that this is the case. It was supposed that the inqairies of last year had for ever put a stop to this monstrous system. And yet it is again in full working. A casa showing in a remarkable manner the dreadful effects of this gaol treatment has just occurred. Catherine Nolan> aged between nineteen and twenty, arrived in the colony about eighteen months since. She was in the employment of a family in St. Kilda for fourteen months, and left'her situation, strongly recommended for her good moral and general conduct. She had been for four months in another situation, in which she gave every satisfaction, her health having been generally good, with tiie exception of slight irregularity in the S} siem, when, on. the night of the 4th cf tie present month, having been frightened on opening the street door, she was seized with a fit of hysteria, not uncommon in girls of her age, and so alarmed the family that a policeman was sent for. The only possible result of this, as things are, seems to he that she was taken to the lock-up, wheie she passed the night! Let any mother lealke to herself the effect of that ni#ht upon a girl of nineteen so suffering. Let her imagine her own daughter thus dealt withj for a temporary complaint, requiring the tenderest care and most delicate treatment even a mother conld bestow, next. The curative step was of course the appearance before the magistrates, to whom she was brought the next morninsr. A nhysician saw her, found her suffering

iVonTliyste^i!^ provided^ by ;/ a( humane /Government *is^ "ireivianded.-.tQathe, Western r.Ga'ol? for : ( a£ weejc^f/jiif medical .examination;'*' ilAt 'theh end o^thi_B#3jdeal,jslie[iwas we'needhitSiy' ada^a-dangerous' luna;vjLc,:probably:ifpr; life^ ..In any.case hei;iate«ipployerivVaS:told ob { the third Hayjthat: he^coUld-vinot'seeVhcrp and;the fifth -,day-^the ; 9th of the; .present month— r-found heivcorifined in a jacke^a.; violent maniac; ar.d- .there she^noW • : is. 3 This is wiiat-still goes' on at the 'Western. Gaol, Where.-. there -are now eight femal^ lunatics, while there are five male, lunatics in. the main gaol. Dp our legisiatorsic6n- ; template -thus state of things whenindeflaricev of fepeaied-vvarhing^they refuse. to affords; the means of remedy l /How ldri^ : isit,tp, ; continue, 'or'- wirere is it to end ? \vje~ to go on for ever adding to our list of in-f, curable lunatics? It will be found to be .: a costly system in the eiVd ? lookecl upon even from a pecuniary, ppint/yf vieW, ihe : only aspect 'by the way, in which Fatlia-; ment seems disposed toTegard it. ' . !