H.—9

12

ment in all the wards, the only case of restraint during my visit was that of a destructive female patient, who wore locked gloves. All the wards and their offices are kept very clean. The single rooms on the male side,' which at present look very gloomy, can be made to look quite cheerful by means of a coat or two of paint; this work can be carried out by the patients themselves, so that only the materials have to be provided. The kitchen block and the laundry must be included in any scheme that is fixed on for the new buildings. I am greatly relieved to find that it is still possible, by using the amusement-hall for an associated dormitory, to tide over the five or six months required for building. Any further delay, however, in undertaking this work will make it impossible to erect new buildings at all without previously providing some temporary means of accommodating the female patients. It is a great relief to pass from the main asylum to the auxiliary buildings in which the working male patients are lodged ; it is admirably designed, and the arrangements leave little to be desired. The patients are looking well and healthy, their food and clothing are carefully attended to, and the general impression is excellent. Owing to the bad weather and the season of the year I put off a careful examination of the farm until my next visit, but I saw enough to satisfy me that Mr. Boyd does his work well, and is earnest and energetic in the discharge of his duties. The number of patients unemployed in an asylum is probably the best test that can be applied to the management, and 1 hope to see a steady reduction of their number in this asylum in proportion as the means is provided. I cannot conclude this report without stating how greatly my anxiety regarding this asylum is relieved by the opinion I have formed of the high qualifications and conscientious devotion to duty of Dr. Young, who, although he is new to this special department of medicine, seems to me to combine in a high degree the sympathetic intelligence and integrity which cannot fail to make him a successful superintendent. It is due also to Mr. Hardy, the chief attendant, to say that he, more than any other, successfully exerted himself to keep everything right during the last illness of the late Superintendent and until the appointment of his successor. I heartily concur in the recommendation of Dr. Grabham that ome acknowledgment should be made of his services. At present there are in the main asylum 159 males and 117 females. . In the auxiliary buildings thei'e are 67 working male patients. I made a careful examination of them all, and found none of them improperly detained. In the new buildings, which I hope to see put in hand at once, provision must be made for alterations in the kitchen and laundry, and for an entirely new garden airing-court beyond the return wing on the male side. Nothing can justify our continuing to keep so many men unemployed, and at the same time shut them all up promiscuously in one court, as is done at present. Nelson. 31st August, 1886. I have spent the 27th, 28th, and 30th August in examining this asylum. The patients this day are 62 males and 37 females. There is one inebriate female for whom no proper accommodation exists. I found a remarkable absence of noise and excitement, attributable to the large proportion of the patients who are occupied in some sort of useful work. Only two were confined to their rooms : one being an unusually violent and maniacal female, very dangerous and suicidal; the other an old man, who was resting. I examined the clothing with great care and found it warm and very clean. All the outside workers were warmly clad, and had good boots and stockings. I examined all the beds and found them clean and comfortable. The food is abundant, of good quality, and well cooked, and there is evidence of great care and attention in the way in which the dietary is altered from day to day. I observed, however, that a few had considerable difficulty in mastication owing to loss of teeth, and Mr. White has undertaken that all such patients will have their meat minced for the future. The general health and condition of the patients is very satisfactory. I was astonished to find a great prevalence of goitre, no less than eight males and twelve females are suffering from this affection. Six males and two females are epileptic, three males and four females are suicidal. I find from examination of the journal that restraint and seclusion are reduced to a minimum in this asylum, and it is evident that the secret of this gratifying fact is to be found in the unusually large proportion who are employed in the open air. On the first day of my examination I found 49 out of a total of 62 male patients at some kind of work; two were chopping wood, seven were planting trees in front of the asylum, two were engaged in the carpenter's shop, seventeen were working in the orchard digging and cleaning, one was looking after the pigs, another the cows, several were weeding and cleaning about the grounds, and four were busy inside. All the females except nine were also occupied, some helping in the kitchen and scullery, some in cleaning up the wards and dormitories, while the rest were engaged in the sewing-room. This high proportion of working is the great feature of the asylum, and there can be no better proof of the energy and ability with which it is managed. The wards, dormitories, and corridors were bright and airy, and as clean and tidy as they could possibly be made. There is a great lack of store-rooms ; the laundry is unsuitable, and the female attendants' dining-room is badly lighted and clismal-looking. A little expenditure in paper and paint would have a great effect in brightening up this part of the building. The vexed question of the water-supply can, I have no doubt, be satisfactorily settled if proper representations are made to the City Council. At any rate we cannot lay all the blame on them in case of fire, seeing that at this moment there does not exist in the asylum a single hose or hydrant, by means of which the water could be supplied if we had it. I haVe made careful inquiry regarding this matter, and I find that the undoubted deficiency of the water-supply can easily be remedied for the present, at any rate, if only the Council can be induced to prevent the great waste that is permitted in the town.