H.—6

6

The grounds in the neighbourhood of this new road, and iu front of the Asylum, have been plentifully planted with pines obtained from the Botanic Gardens, and which are already beginning to make a considerable show. At my visits to the Asylum I have always found it in thoroughly good order, and felt reason to be well satisfied with the general management, which is both enterprising and careful. Except occasionally in the crowded female ward above referred to, the inmates were invariably found quiet aud orderly, and exhibiting no trace of excitement. They are well fed and comfortably clothed. A large proportion of the men are actively employed. There are generally 45 men to be seen working in the grounds at levelling, road-making, and gardening ; and, besides these, some 9 or 10 are more or less occupied keeping the courts and back premises in order. A fair proportion of the women also are employed, but many of them have been very useless, even when sane, and can be got to do nothing. Most of the men got sufficient exercise, only a few being restricted to the airing yard. Hitherto the opposite has been the case with the women; but this is about to be remedied to a great extent, by setting apart for their use a well-situated piece of ground adjoining the new wing. Neither restraint nor seclusion appear to be used more frequently than is rendered justifiable by the dangerous or strongly suicidal tendencies which are occasionally manifested by the recent and acute cases. Divine service is held every Sunday, and generally attended by about 60 men and 25 women. Por recreation there is a weekly dance, at which about the same numbers are present; and for which amateur theatrical performances or other entertainments were occasionally substituted during the year. ChristcJiurcJi Asylum. —On the Ist January, there were 234 patients in this Asylum —151 males and 83 females. During the year 58 men and 32 women were admitted, 9of each sex being readmissions ; and the total number under treatment was 324 —209 males, 115 females. Of these, 44 males and 21 females were discharged as recovered, and 8 males and 3 females as relieved; 11 males and 5 females died; there remained at the end of the year 146 men and 86 women —in all, 232, or 2 less than at the beginning of the year. The recoveries were in the high proportion of 72'22 per cent, to the admissions. The death-rate was 6'85 of the average number resident, and 493 of the total number under treatment. Of the 16 deaths, 9 were due to brain disease, 3 to lung disease, 2 to heart disease, 1 to the disease of the mesenteric glands, and 1 to general dropsy. In the above statistics are included those of a few habitual drunkards committed to the Asylum for curative treatment under the provisions of the 21st section of the Lunatics Act. Three of each sex were in the Asylum at the commencement of the year, 2 males and 3 females were admitted for the first time, and 1 female was readmitted; making 12 in all. under treatment. Two males and 4 females were discharged as recovered, and 2 males and 1 female as not improved, and 1 male and 2 females remained at the end of the year. In every case but one the Judge's order of committal directed that the patient should be detained in the asylum for twelve months (being the full term allowed by the Act), unless ordered to be discharged before the end of that time. Only 1, however, of those discharged during the year had remained for that time : 1 stayed under 2 months, 3 under 4 months, 2 under 6 months, and 1 under 7 months. It can hardly bo supposed that, when a man's moral powers have so utterly broken down under the influence of drink as to justify his being placed in confinement, two or three days' repentance, or a few months of rebellious grumbling, are likely to secure his recovery. A year's seclusion does not seem a day too long ; but the patient can seldom be got to take this view. Shortly after being placed in the asylum the more immediate effects of drink disappear; nothing is left but what cannot be seen ; impatience and self-confidence daily increase, the patient bewails that his family are in destitution, and that his business is being ruined through his prolonged detention; and he protests that he is all right, and determined to drink no more. His wife believes it; and the doctors on whose evidence he was committed are called in to re-examine him. Ten to one he is looking as fresh as a daisy, and there is nothing remarkable about him except his resolve not to drink. So he is discharged as "recovered," which no doubt he is from the acute symptoms which may have principally led to his being placed in the Asylum ; but in many cases tho tendency to drink remains, and reasserts itself almost as soon as liberty, is regained. In all cases the patients'maintenance is ordered to be paid for at a certain weekly rate, and in the cases in the Asylum during the year this had been fixed at 40s. in 1, at SOs. in 2, and at 255. in 3, and at 20s. in the six others. In 7 cases payment was made as directed, and in 1 it is still expected ; but in the remaining 4 no payment was made at all, nor seems likely to be forthcoming. It can hardly have been the intention of the Act that habitual drunkards should be maintained gratis in asylums, and at the same time be at liberty to spend their time in absolute idleness. Yet this is what actually happens when, although an order for payment for board has been made, it turns out there are no funds from which the payment can be got. These patients will rarely work—they are not working-men, to begin with —and they object to do anything inconsistent with their dignity as drunkards, and calculated to confuse them with those who are really insane. Even when their maintenance is paid for, their presence has generally an injurious influence. They spend all their time in amusements or grumbling ; their superior airs hurt the feelings of their insane companions, and their determined idleness sets a bad example. But in the case of those who pay nothing, mere broadcloth paupers, this lordly idleness is peculiarly offensive both to the patients and the officers of the asylum. There is no proper accommodation in the asylum for this class of patients. A separate house was, indeed, built for them, but owing to overcrowding it cannot be reserved for their exclusive use. Moreover, they could not possibly be confined to it and the small garden attached to it, nor could it be occupied by both sexes. As it is, the male inebriates reside in a small part of it, and the females in the ordinary wards of the Asylum. Great as are the annoyances which result from the reception of habitual drunkards into this Asylum, and small as may be the benefits of such generosity, it does not appear desirable altogether to rescind the law which provides the only means of recovery to a class of people who are a misery to themselves and others, many of whom are undoubtedly anxious to get rid of their infirmity, and some of whom certainly do, and through these mean3. The disadvantages of the present system will