H.—2

4

increased by a considerable amount the cost of maintenance for the year. The Auxiliary Asylum has been painted, and is greatly improved in consequence. My hopes that a much larger number of patients Avould be employed in out-door work have not been realised, owing to the amount of neAv works which had been undertaken by the artisans on the staff, thus leaving fewer attendants available for out-door supervision. With the exception of the typhoid epidemic last summer, the general health of the patients has been surprisingly good, and I am confident that the neAv drainage scheme will remove the danger of a return of the fever. I am satisfied that in the matter of food and clothing our insane brethren are as Avell cared for as they are anyAvhere, and I am sanguine that, as the financial condition of the country improves, the Parliament will make it possible to classify the cases in such a way as shall secure that every appliance science puts at our disposal shall be taken advantage of to secure the rapid recovery of curable cases. The harmony which prevails all through the Asylum, and the satisfactory condition, in spite of manifold difficulties, bear the most convincing testimony to the devotion with which Dr. King has discharged his duty. I found all the statutory books and documents in order. 30th November, 1890. —To-day I made an examination of the Avhole Asylum. My especial object, hoAvever, was to examine the drainage works hoav in progress under the charge of Mr. Connall, which I find are being carried out in a most satisfactory manner. lam greatly astonished to find that the Public Works Department propose to take the works out of Mr. Connall's hands, contrary to the arrangement made with me when he came here, and I beg to represent most earnestly that it is very undesirable that this should be done. I find everything going on in the most satisfactory manner. 9th March, 1891.—Great improvements have been made in this Asylum during the year. It has been found necessary to take up the whole of the drainage system, and lay it down on entirely new lines, at a very large cost. Mr. Bell's plans have been carried out by Mr. Connall in the most thorough-going fashion. The large male airing-court is being laid down afresh in a way w 7hich will completely alter the dismal prison-like appearance Avhich it formerly presented. The greatest reform, however, which this Asylum has ever yet seen has been effected by Dr. Hassell and the neAv head attendant, Mr. McLeay, in inducing such a large proportion of men, hitherto supposed to be dangerous, and who Avere therefore continually kept in the airing-court idle, to go out into the garden, and on the farm. Nothing has given me more gratification than to see these men so greatly improved in health, and improved in temper and their habits generally, by their regular daily occupation in the open air. Of course the number of escapes has increased, but I have never hesitated to prefer the risk of escapes to the distressing and injurious confinement which has to be enforced in all asylums where the dread of escapes has resulted in the practical incarceration of a large proportion of the inmates. I have never been able until hoav to get the attendants of the Auckland Asylum to see that patients Avho Avere supposed to be dangerous and unfit to be trusted Avith any kind of tools would in reality be quite tractable if treated AA'ith kindness and confidence, while at the same time they should be vigilantly guarded. To attain this result I had to bring men accustomed to look after out-door gangs from the southern asylums, and the result has surpassed my expectations. The large number noAv sent to the Auxiliary Asylum as out-door Avorkers has had the further effect of greatly relieving the overcrowding of the main building. The farm, too, will soon present a very different appearance, and progress at a Aery much faster rate than hitherto. In a very short time the Asylum will have become a place which a lover of his fellow-man can feel a pleasure in visiting, and it will be a credit instead of a disgrace to the Province and City of Auckland. lam greatly indebted to Messrs. Cooper and Ewington for the unrelaxing A'igilance with Avhich they keep up their supervision of the institution. The total number of patients this day is 367—males, 251; and females, 116. Of these, there are only twenty-nine men who do not engage in some sort of occupation, while 207 men and sixty-eight women take their meals in the hall. All but a very feAV join in the amusements, Avhich are regularly attended to. Authority has been given for a new billiard-table for the Avorking patients at the Auxiliary, which will be a great boon on wet days, and in the evenings. Ghristchurch. 13th August, 1890. —I have spent to-day and yesterday in my usual half-yearly inspection of this Asylum. The patients in the Asylum to-day number 379 —males 231, and females 148. I examined carefully all the more recent cases, and satisfied myself that they are receiving every attention. Every one of the inmates was seen, and found to be suitably clothed for the season of the year. The cold wet weather has caused an unusual number to be confined to their beds. Ten males and twelve females were confined to bed under medical treatment. Twenty-four males and twenty females do not join in the recreations. Twenty-four males and six females are confined to the house. The number who are employed in some kind of useful work is 163 males and ninetyfour females, leaving sixty-eight men and fifty-four women who do not Avork at all. The number of artisan attendants as compared with ordinary out-door attendants requires for the present to be unusually large. By-and-by, when the new buildings and other improvements are completed, it Avill be possible to reverse the proportion, and thus employ a still larger number of patients in farmand garden-work. I hope that the present Parliament will authorise a sum of money sufficient to complete the male side by adding a cross block, containing much-needed day-room accommodation, at the north end; and that a front block, containing the necessary offices and public Avaiting-room, Avill be put up in front, so as to remove the unsightly appearance it presents at present. I found the Asylum working smoothly and effectively in all its parts. The relations of Dr. Levinge and his staff are now most satisfactory and harmonious. Every attendant who is able and willing to do his or her work finds in Dr. Levinge a just though determined ruler; and I am confident that things have now at length got into a state of stable equilibrium, and that for the future changes in the staff Avill be much less frequent. The hand of a-rigorous administrator Avhose heart is in his work