H.—9

6

" Ist December, 1886. —I arrived here on Monday, 15th November, in answer to a telegram from Dr. Cremonini, representing that some of the attendants were causing trouble in the asylum. Immediately on my entrance the clerk (Mr. Thompson) and Chief Attendant Hardy, together with eight male and eleven female attendants, including Miss Woonton, the Matron, sent in their resignations. I examined on oath all who had anything to say, and came to the conclusion that it was simply a conspiracy against Dr. Cremonini, inasmuch as I found no intelligible grievances. The action of the doctor in taking away from the eight male attendants who had them the keys which gave them access to the female side in case of fire, as well as his objecting to the clerk's selling dripping to Hardy, and his withdrawal of the Saturday afternoon once a month, which the attendants had been in the habit of getting, I thoroughly approved of. These were the only grievances complained of, and in each case Dr. Cremonini was in the right, as Thompson and Hardy were both obliged to admit. "The complaints of the doctor's overbearing manner, and his insisting on being saluted by the officers, I found to be unworthy of notice; on the other hand I found the clearest proof that a general scheme of organized resistance had been determined on, in the hope of making it impossible for Dr. Cremonini to successfully manage the asylum, and that the majority of those who had resigned had been misled by misrepresentations of the doctor's intentions. It had been diligently whispered among the staff that they were all going to be replaced, and that it would be better to resign than wait to be dismissed. " On Tuesday, the 16th, I accepted Hardy's resignation, and told him to leave at once, giving as my reason that, ' in my opinion, the interests of the asylum made it necessary that he should go at once.' Next morning I left for Eotorua and the Thames, intending to be absent a week, and hoping that when I returned the members of the staff who had been misled would withdraw their resignations. " I again visited the asylum on Thursday, the 26th, and found the clerk and six attendants— Strahan, O'Connor, Samuel, Boyd, Byrne, Leydon, and Farrell all defiant, apparently trusting to outside support. Thompson, the clerk, was under the influence of drink, and I dismissed him on the spot, having previously sent for a police officer to take delivery of the stores. The others I sent away at once to prevent their doing further mischief among the staff, agreeing to give them their usual wages in lieu of notice. " I found this morning (Ist December) that all was going on quietly, and that eight of the female attendants had withdrawn their resignations. " I made a general inspection of the asylum. The number of male patients is 160; females, 127 ; males in the auxiliary asylum, 66 ; absent on trial, 2 males and 4 females." At Sunnyside Asylum I found only a less unsatisfactory state of affairs than at Auckland, caused by the delay in building the central block, and aggravated to some extent by the false position in which the leading members of the staff were placed with regard to each other. At Seacliff the public feeling of insecurity about the building, the confusion arising from the want of properly laid-out grounds and airing-courts, the want of a doctor's house, which compels the back to be used as the front of the asylum, and the desolate appearance inseparable from the transformation of dense bush into farm land, made it difficult to do justice to the management. As will be seen, however, from the accompanying entries made in the Inspector's book, at my regular visits, I think it reasonable to conclude that our asylums are carefully and economically managed. In all, without exception, the medical treatment of patients in the acute stage of the disease is greatly hampered by the impossibility of thorough-going classification, while as regards their food and clothing, and immunity from restraint, there is little or nothing to be desired. As regards the Wellington Asylum I thought it would be unfair to express my unqualified satisfaction with Dr. Levinge's management of it until I had explained why I had found it so difficult to do justice to the other Superintendents. I beg to return my hearty thanks for the important assistance I have received from the Deputy-Inspectors and Official Visitors. I consider their presence at the various asylums a veryimportant means of keeping up the public confidence in the management of these institutions, and. dispelling the mystery that surrounds them in public estimation. The following are the entries I made in the Inspector's Book at each asylum at the time of my visits : — Entries of Visets to the different Asylums. Seacliff. 29th May, 1886.—1 made my first inspection of Seacliff Asylum on the 20th, 24th, 26th, 27th, and 28th May. On the day of my last visit the number of patients in the asylum was 453 : males, 297 ; females, 156. One male and three females were out on trial, and there was one dipsomanic in the asylum. I made a careful individual inspection of all the inmates, and made a special examination of any cases that seemed to require particular attention. I found no one improperly detained. There was one old man of eighty, suffering from senile decay, placed here by the Judge merely because he could not be properly managed at home. I found no one in actual seclusion, and only a few who, at intervals, and for short periods, require to be confined to their rooms. One female patient was wearing locked gloves, for reasons that seemed to me sufficient. All the inmates of this asylum are well and kindly treated, being well fed, well clothed, and well lodged, while their medical treatment is carefully attended to by Dr. Neill and his assistant, Dr. Macandrew. There are, however, great defects, which at present, and for some time to come, must greatly detract from the undoubted advantages of this asylum. These advantages, which in the present state of feeling about the asylum are apt to be overlooked, are nevertheless such as very few, if any, institutions of the kind possess. There is a magnificent estate of 900 acres of firstclass bush land, unsurpassed in fertility, beauty of situation, and accessibility when we consider the