Taranaki herald SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1909. INBANITY IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Herald, Volume 16, Issue 14, 16 October 1909, Page 2

Taranaki herald SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1909. INBANITY IN NEW ZEALAND

Dr. Hay, in his annual report on the mental hospitals of the dominion, gives information whjcl cannot be regarded as other than rather startling, if not indeed alarming. The most striking fact is that the proportion of insane to the total population, exclusive of Maoris, is 1 in 286, while in England and Wales the proportion is 1 in 278, practically the same percentage. What is startling about this is that in this young, progressive country, the healthiest in the world, as we sometines claim, with a population which may be regarded ac to some extent specially selected, with a higher physical and supposedly higher mental standard than the Old Country, insanity is as prevalent as in England and Wales,* where it is constantly being stated that nearly a fourth of the people are on the verge of starvation, where the percentage of pauperism is certainly high, and where the keen struggle for existence might reasonably be supposed to tend towards a higher proportion of insanity. Possibly some explanation may be offered in the theory that in New Zealand the provision made for the treatment of insanity by the State is more perfect and that thus the. figures here are more accurate than at Sonjte, where registration may be less systematic. And yet the report of the Commissioners in Lunacy seems to indicate very great care in that direction, and the rate of increase i» smaller there than here, the increase last year being 2.14 per cent in England and Wales and 5.37 per cent, in New Zealand. We have not the information before us as to the occupations furnishing the insane and the causes of insanity in New Zealand, but an analysis supplied by the English authorities strengthens the opinion that there ought to be much less insanity here than there. For instance, warehousemen and ironworkers furnish the largest proportion of admissions at Home, and they are occupations much more extensively followed there than they are in New Zealand. Then as to causes, the most prolific seem to be prolonged mental stress, heredity, and alcohol. Mental strew may be taken as usually due to the struggle for existence, worry over business, etc., and surely there is greater cause for worry among the people of the Old Country, where competition is so keen and the struggle so much greater than in this favoured country. Then the earlier settlers of this country were, as we have said, & some extent specially selected, and the life they have led ought to have improved the race rather than the

reverse, so that heredity ought to be a minor cause of insanity here. So also with alcoholism; this is far less prevalent in New Zealand than in England, therefore there should be much less insanity from that cause. Really it is difficult to account for the fact that there is as much insanity, in proportion to population, in New Zealand as in England, and it is difficult also to understand why, considering the efforts made here to improve the health of the people and to raise the standard of living and comfort, insanity should.be increasing fester here than in England. The only exceptional condition here that we can .think of which might tend to a higher rate i^ the solitary life led fby many of the backblocks settlers. It is a matter which needs investigating in face of the figures disclosed by Dr Hay's report. In the Magistrate's Court this morning, before Mr. H. S. Fitsherbert, 8.M., a first offending female inebriate was convicted and discharged. Messrs. Connett, King and Cock have been appointed Sinking Fund Commissioners in connection with the Harbour Board loan. In a communication received locally Mr. Jennings, M.P., states that he has made all arrangements in connection with Dr. Bell's visit to the MokauAwakino district. The Harbour Board has accepted the tender of the State mines for coal supplies for the ensuing six months and that of Johnston© and Co. for pile shoes. Mr. S. W. Jury, of -the Coronation Stables, wrote to the Harbour Board yesterday to the effect that the lease of his present stables had expired and that there was no chance so far of securing the present site. He offered £70 a year for sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, to erect a new stable. Considerable interest is being taken outside of New Plymouth in the cottage garden competition, promoted by Mr. G. Tisch, Mayor of New Plymouth, that the local Horticultural Society is holding. The secretary of the society has received a letter from Mr. H. F. Hursthouse, of Westport, asking for particulars of the competition, Tor the benefit of the Westport Horticultural Society. Seeing that the number of steamers trading at the port has been reduced, Mr. Wilkinson expressed -the opinion yesterday that the Harbour Board should be able to effect a saving in the amount of wages paid to the board employees at the wharf. He moved that a return be prepared for the next meeting showing the number of hands employed at the works, other than those engaged in construction and dredging, together with the salaries. On the 20th inst. the Mangorei Cooperative Dairy Factory Company payi out to its suppliers £2267 15s 9d foi September milk, as against £1241 9a 5d last year. The company is now making 50 boxes of butter daily,' an increase of 15 on last year. These figures afford a striking example ai •to how returns oan be increased by improving dairy herds and pastures, ss suppliers of this company have been doing during the last few years. The figures apply to the same acreage at last year, the Hurworth factory not yei having been taken over by the company. Messrs. Govett and Quilliam, writing to the Harbour Board yesterday witt reference to Mr. T. Knowles' application for a boring license on his lease ai Moturoa, stated that they, found oi investigating the title that the least was granted subject to boring rights t< one James Ha&lett and to a furthei right in favour of W. D. Webster anc S. Hill. The first mentioned righti were surrendered to the board on Marcl 25, 1902, but they could find no tract of the surrender of the rights grantee to Messrs. Webster and Hal. If there were any existing grants in force the board could not, of course, make the proposed grant to Mr. Knowles. Mr. Quilliam interviewed the board on the matter and further consideration wat deferred. The Auckland correspondent of the Lyttehon Times telegraphs that a proposal has been made by the Imperial Export Company of Toronto to establish a six-weekly service direct between Canada and Australasia. Steamers would leave from Montreal in summer and from Halifax in winter, and if the company can secure a Government subsidy s of £20,000 a year for three years only the service may be regarded as an accomplished fact. This would free the dominion's Canadian trade entirely from the grip of tho American trusts, which now control the service and prao> tically block trade by the heavy freights, running as high as 45s a ton. A report that still higher rates were to be charged is said to be partly responsible for the new proposal. The Collingwood paper says: "The owners of the Cadman lease at Parapara and other important and valuable coal and other interests in this county are displaying considerable activity in regard to their holdings at present: Instructions have been issued for the immediate shipment of ten tons oi iron ore from Parapara for experimental purposes by new processes, the result of which will be awaited with interest. The syndicate, whose headquarters are at Christchurch, is also increasing its staff of workmen on the coal areas at Oti Mataura, by the addition of two practioal miners, whe will more fully open up the valuable coal seams already exposed in various parts of the. leases. The early development of its property seems to be engaging the practical attention of the syndicate's directorate." ' The Harbour Board yesterday spent some time in discussing in camera the merits of Tasmanian stringy bark for wharf construction as against iron bark. It has advice from experts that the timber is. admirably suited for wharf construction and it is much cheaper than the iron bark. The matter was the previous meeting of tin? Aboard, when the members favoured tho use of stringy bark in view of the information before them, but before deoiding definitely referred the matter to the engineer for his opinion. Mr. Marchant wired: "I consider iron bark imBirative for deep-berth piles and mixed ew South Wales hardwoods for superstructure. Tasmanian stringy bark weak and perishable; is used for split palings, not for permanent wharves." It was decided to wire to the engineer asking him to visit New Plymouth in order to confer personally with the board on the question. A return circulated among members of the New Plymouth Harbour Board by the secretary, acting on instructions of the board at last meeting, showed that from July 1 to September SO the Barawa made 25 trips, bringing 8289 tons of cargo, an estimate of EH. tons per trip. The charges totalled £108 12s 4d, or £4 6s lOd per trip. A second return gave the amount of passenger traffic from Maxell 1 (the first month of the opening of the Main Trunk line) to August 31, 1909. It had to be noted also that the months quoted were winter months, when the passenger traffic was at its lowest. The particulars were; as follows : — March, 1140 passengers, revenue £114; April, 1494, revenue £149 8s; May, 1144, revenue £114 8s; June, 707, revenue £70 14s; July 670, revenue £67; AAugustt t 782, revenue £78 4s. The passengers for the six months totalled 5937, producing £693 14s to the board from the passen-ger-tax, or an average of £98 l9s per month. With the object of further stocking the waste lands of the country with big jjanje an order was placed by the Tourist Division some time ago in Canada for some moose, and it is hoped that those will be successfully acclimatised, as l(as been tt}e case with other imported animals, sayS the Wellington Times. 3o far as can he ascertained, tho thar, imported in' 1904; the elk, Japanese blacktail, and Virginian deer, imported in 1905; the chamois, sambur, and axis deer, imported in J907; and the axis deer (lately, liberated' in the Seafortb Valley) and bharal sheep (liberated at Mount Cook), recently imported, have a}l been successfully acclimatised. In particular, the elk seem to be doing well in the Fiord country. Commercial men will be interested in the following paragraph in the annual report of the Minister of Industries and Commerce: — "I consider that the cabled market reports from the High Commissioner could be made more valu. able if they were sent with greater frequency when important fluctuations in the market take place, or when any special conditions are operating for or against the market. At present the cabloH come once a week, and any noticeable fluctuations which may occur between the regular cables are not advised. It may at any time happen that immediately after the sending of the weekly cable a sharp rise or fall may takp place in the price of any particular line of produce, and I think it is advisable that when circumstances of this kind arise the particulars should immediately be cabled by the High Commissioner."

A West port, lady, Mrs. Stitt, is interesting neraelf in securing for that town the honour of a visit from the Chambers of Commerce delegates. She has wired the Premier and other Ministers, as well as the local member, and made them promise to do all they can to induce the delegates to visit Westport. Her energy deserves its reward. Persons contemplating a round-the-world trip should secure a copy ot Cook's Australasian Traveller's Gazette, the October number of which has just reached us. Here they will find specimen tours, with routes, fares, etc., mapped out, while special articles give some fuller information regarding Egypt and the Holy Land and Syria. Even those who cannot spare the time and money to go further than the South Pacific will find here very full information as to numerous enjoyable trips. The Hawera correspondent of the New Zealand Times says that a meeting was held there on Thursday afternoon for the purpose of floating another newspaper. The meeting decided to form a company with a capital of £10,000, in £10 shares. It is understood that a large part of the capital has already been promised. Representative men throughout the district have agreed to act as provisional directors. The majority present were of opinion that the time, nad come to establish another paper, it being essential in the interests of the district generally. In the House of Representatives yesterday evening, the Hon. T. Mackenzie, referring to the statements made regarding moisture in butter, said that the attitude of the Government t was taken up in consequence of the decision of British importers not to allow more than 16 per cent, of moisture in butter. The results of the analysis showed that an excess of moisture existed as high as 33 per cent. The department had no wish to push cases to prosecution, but merely to warn exporters to comply with the -law. Attention had been called to the, fact that butter imported into Britain from New Zealand contained as high as 25 per cent, moisture. The Orepuki Advocate gives a very dismal account of the shale works in the Orepuki district. Describing the present condition of the extensive and costly refining plant which was erected some years ago. it says: — "There is something ghoulish and uncanny in the stillness of the deserted engine-rooms, or the hollow sounds of footsteps as a person crosses the silent spaces, where tall chimney* and blackened retorts and condensers cast their ghost-like shadows. Daring the years of silence £125,000 has been lost to wage earners, while the company has lost during the same period in interest and depreciation a sum not less than £50*000. The loss of railway revenue must amount to a large figure, a» the flow of crude oil from the condensers averaged 1500 gallons daily." According to the annual report of the General Manager of Tourist and Health Resorts, the oversea tourist* Ifriyear numbered 8082. an inoreaae of 380 on the number for 1907-8. The value of the tourist traffic in 1900 was estimated to be £100.000. On the same basis last year's traffic was worth £499,000 to the dominion. The department's direct revenue was £28,787, an increase of over £20.000 on the year. The treatment of indigent patients at Hamper and Rotorua, cost £500, and another turn of £400 was lost in the treatment of friendly eociety patients. The manager thinks that this annual loss should be charged against charitable aid boards. The district offices of the Tourist Department dealt with 44,890 inquiries. In his covering report the Minister combats the popular idea that tourist and health resorts are maintained for the benefit of oversea tourists, contending that 75 per cent, of the visitors are Hew Zealand residents. Mr. Mackenzie reports on the special effort* he made last year to inaugurate cheap "trips for the many." There is now under consideration, he adds, a proposal for the issue by the departmentof tickets available for use over all the travelling routes of the dominion, steamer, railway and coach, ttie idea being that when a tourist has decided upon the tours he shall undertake hewiltbq able to bay tickets without- leaving the office of the department. The Rev. J. G. Chapman will conduct the services in the Whiteley Memorial Church to-morrow. Morning subject, "A Faithfnl Saying ;" evening subject, "The Converted Pawnbroker." — Advt.