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Sess. 11.—1891. NEW ZEALAND.

LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF THE COLONY (REPORT ON) FOR 1890.

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

The Inspector of Asylums to the Hon. the Native Minister. Sir,— Ist April, 1891. I have the honour to lay before you the folloAving report on the lunatic asylums of the colony for the year 1890 : — The number of registered insane persons on the 31st December, 1890, was 1,797, showing an increase over the preceding year of only 36 persons, being 21 males and 15 females. These are distributed as follows :— Males. Females. Total. Previous Year. Auckland ... ... ... 257 ... 116 ... 373 ... 389 Christchurch ... ... ... 232 ... 155 ... 387 ... 368 Seacliff ... ... ... 282 ... 213 ... 495 ... 496 Hokitika ... ... ... 69 ... 33 ... 102 ... 105 Nelson ... ... ... 58 ... 46 ... 104 ... 98 Wellington ... ... ... 178 ... 121 ... 299 ... 272 Ashburn Hall (private asylum) ... 19 ... 18 ... 37 ... 33 The proportion of the insane to the population is— NeAV Zealand (exclusive of Maoris) ... ... 2-85 per 1,000 =1 in 351 NeAv Zealand (inclusive of Maoris) ... ... 2-67 „ =1 in 374 At the end of 1888 the proportion in the other colonies Avas — Victoria, 1888... ... ... ... ... ... ... lin 308 New South Wales, 1888 ... ... ... ... ... lin 377 South Australia, 1888 ... ... ... ... ... ... lin 427 England, 1888 ... ... ... ... ... ... lin 344 These figures must be viewed in the light of the fact that in New Zealand alone of all the colonies the care of the aged poor and paupers generally is by IaAV throAvn on the local bodies, who haAe, by local taxation, to find at least half the cost of their maintenance. There is thus produced a strong tendency to relieve local rates at the cost of the general revenue. After long continued and urgent representations of the magnitude of this evil, I have at length succeeded in getting a contract let for the central block of a new asylum for chronic cases at Porirua. This Asylum, when completed, will accommodate OAer 500 patients for a cost of £35,000. Of course the building is as plainly constructed and fitted as possible, for it is quite clear that the colony cannot continue to provide such expensive buildings as Seacliff. The new Asylum will enable me to relieve the other institutions from the incurables, the accumulation of many years, and make it possible to provide suitable accommodation and treatment for the more recent and curable cases. Our criminal lunatics, inebriates, and idiots we are still obliged to admit among our ordinary inmates, and I am afraid there is no near prospect of special accommodation for them. Admissions. On the first day of January, 1890, the number of insane persons in our asylums was 1,761 — males, 1,074; females, 687. Those admitted for the first time during the year numbered 312—males, 186; females, 126. The readmissions were 78—males, 44 ; females, 84. I—H. 2.