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1877. NEW ZEALAND.

LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN NEW ZEALAND (REPORT ON THE).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Inspector of Lunatic Asylums to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Sir, — Inspector of Lunatic Asylums' Office, Wellington, Ist July, 1877. I have the honor to lay before you the following report regarding the condition of the Insane and the Lunatic Asylums in New Zealand. The number of Lunatics in Asylums in the colony on the Ist January, 1877, was 783, and their distribution was as follows :—

Asylums. I purpose to give here only such a brief account of each Asylum as is necessary to give au idea of its general condition, with a view to the consideration of how far the present accommodation for the insane is sufficient for the wants of the colony, to what extent it requires to be altered or supplemented, and what changes should be made iv the system on which the Asylums are managed. A detailed account of each Asylum at the date of its inspection will be found in the Appendix. The Auckland Asylum is situated about three miles from the city, and has twenty-six acres of ground attached to it. It consists of the administration block and male wing of an Asylum which is intended to contain, when completed, 100 patients. The wing already built is in two storeys, the lower one of which is occupied by the men, and the upper by the women. Properly speaking, it is only capable of affording accommodation for 50 patients, that being the number for which it was intended. It now contains 163. The condition of the patients generally speaking is deplorable. The great majority of them are simply prisoners, who are not, and in the present circumstances ofthe Asylum cannot be, subjected to any system of treatment, either curative or palliative. They have neither occupation nor amusement, and are restricted for exercise to a dreary high-walled airing court, from which there is no look-out. The building is crowded to such an extent as to defy all attempts at proper management, no matter what amount of ability and energy were brought to bear upon it. There can only be one opinion as to the proper course to pursue with reference to this Asylum. It is only the half of an Asylum, which is meant for fifty men and fifty women, and as yet it has accommodation for the fifty men only. The building should therefore be completed without delay. If this were done in strict accordance with the original plan, there would still be far from sufficient accommodation even for the present number of inmates. But much space is wasted by the internal arrangements of the existing wing, and in building the new one it would not be difficult to adhere to the original plan so far as might be necessary for the sake of external appearance, and at the same time provide the requisite accommodation. I—H. 8.

Patients. ASTLTTM. Male. Female. Total. Luckland few Plymouth ... fapier Vellington felson lokitika Jhristehurch )unedin 105 4 11 41 28 43 121 166 58 4 81 13 u 70 59 163 4 15 72 46 57 191 235 Total ... 519 264 783