3

H.—7

The following table will show more plainly the accommodation, and the actual number occupying beds at the commencement of the present year, in the various establishments : — Accommodation Number of for Patients. Auckland ... ... ... ... 217 ... 291 Seacliff (when completed) ... ... ... 446 ... 350 Nelson ... ... ... ... 98 ... 95 Hokitika ... ... ... ... 102 ... 91 Napier ... ... ... ... 23 ... 26 Wellington ... ... ... ... 152 ... 170 ■ Christchurch ... ... ... ... 327 ... 337 Total... ... ... ... 1,365 ... 1,360 It will thus be seen that there would be an excess of five beds, supposing the Seacliff Asylum to be completed, which certainly will not be the case for a considerable time to come. There will be at least a hundred additional patients to provide for before the end of the present year. Every possible exertion should therefore be made to complete the Seacliff buildings, with their laundry, gasworks, and Superintendent's residence, the latter being urgently necessary. At Christchurch Asylum not one "single-room" is vacant. Measures ought to be at once taken to commence building the approved blocks containing twenty-four of these rooms, and to enlarge the female day-room. A new kitchen is also very necessary at this establishment. Great pressure for accommodation exists at Auckland, and, in a less degree, at Wellington. A block, or other addition, for a hundred beds, should be built at the former place without any delay. The cost of the small auxiliary asylum, with its accessories, appears to me to have been so excessive—though the building is almost totally devoid of ornamental features —that Ido not recommend any repetition of this plan. The demand for accommodation at Wellington will best be relieved by the erection of plain wooden buildings for about twenty-five or thirty working patients upon the newly-acquired land at Porirua. Remunerative work will here be easily provided for them. The area of the estate is nearly 140 acres, all of which is available for cultivation. There is a good water-supply from tho hills behind, and the Porirua Stream runs through the lower portion, on the other side of the main road. Here also a railway-station is indicated on the Wellington and Manawatu Railway, while the harbour is at a very short distance. There are several admirable sites for a large building, and the property is singularly well adapted for the purpose for which it has been acquired by the Government. At the Sunnyside Asylum, Christchurch, the purchase of a hundred acres of additional land has been made. This I considered an absolute necessity, if the asylum was to remain in its present position. Profitable use will speedily be made of this addition when possession is had, at the end of the nearly-expired lease. A comparatively small sum of money has added two acres of land to the very cramped estate of the Nelson Asylum; and furnished accommodation, in a dwelling-house thereon, for twelve additional patients and two attendants, as above mentioned. Cost of Maintenance. The expenditure of 1883 amounted to .€43,277 17s. lOd. Compared with that of the former year an increase is shown of £3,911 7s. 2d. This excess is chiefly due to the larger number of patients treated, but in some measure also to the increased price of provisions, and to the improvement made in the wages of the attendants, for whom a uniform scale of payment, with progressive increase, has been adopted and brought into use. The sum received in repayment for the maintenance of patients, and for asylum produce sold, was £4,975 16s. Bd. The total cost is thus reduced to £38,302 Is. 2d. In 1882 the sum was £34,993 15s. lOd. The total cost per patient was £32 2s. 4|d.; or, less repayments, £28 7s. 10id.; the corresponding amounts in the previous year were £29 18s. 7id., and £26 6s. 9d. Although the amount collected by the Superintendents of the asylums as maintenancemoney, viz., £4,585 15s. Bd., compares favourably with the sum of £4,008 4s. lOd. of the previous year, yet I am disposed to think that there is scope here for a large increase, with improved legislation, and greater assistance from the Magistrates, in the matters of making orders for payment at the time of committal, and of furnishing information regarding the lunatics' circumstances and those of his relatives, which might often be within the knowledge