H.—29

8

try and induce on old patient, who had shown a decided taste for wood-carving, and who used to be confined in a walled airing- court, to carve a fountain in Oamaru stone. I had seen one which was erected at the Tiinaru Hospital some years ago, and which was not only a great ornament to the place, but appeared to be thoroughly durable. I need only say that our patient has far excelled his own and our highest expectations, and has a work more than half completed for which no apologies whatever need be made. Even if the fountain had come to nothing the fine enthusiasm and great pleasure in his work displayed by this old patient, who was formerly melancholy and misanthropic, would be almost a sufficient reward for the small expenditure of £26 6s. 7d. staked in the venture. As it is, in three months' time we expect to have a fountain completed which will be a great ornament to the grounds, and which will have an intrinsic value of at least £100. As to the site slipping, that is nothing unusual at Seacliff; most of the ground slips, more or less, and so long as large blocks of brick-buildings move en masse without damage, there need be no great anxiety about our fountain. (For photograph and detailed expenses of fountain vide Appendix V.) The main items of expenditure were for material and labour to form the concrete basin. 3. Farm Buildings. —A fine farm steading, the shell of which is constructed of materials from Exhibition Building, has been erected during the past year, and has engrossed a large share of work in building, asphalting, painting, glazing, &c. The cost may be ascertained on application to the Inspector-General, as the portion of Exhibition Building was purchased by the central authorities, and the accounts have not passed through our office. (4.) Sewage Irrigation. —This provides for the efficient irrigation of half an acre of land for garden purposes. Expenditure of about £7 10s., for pipes, cement, &c. (o.) Cottage to serve as a Lodge for Bandmaster-attendant. —This is situated at the main entrance to the grounds, and at the corner of the large orchard, from which almost the whole of the fruit has been stolen every year. Cost of cottage, say, £60. (Vide Appendix W.) Economies not already mentioned have been effected, mainly by systematizing and concentrating the work of the institution, instituting a proper system of check in clothing and other departments, preventing waste in numerous directions, and getting a larger number of patients to employ themselves, and assume responsible duties. (Vide Appendix X.) Why reasonable economy in the expenditure of public money, which does not benefit the individual, should be regarded as improper and cheese-paring, while similar carefulness in private life is generally approved, lamat a loss to understand. There certainly is a tendency to look askance at all public saving, and to regard lavish expenditure in the light of generosity. On the other hand outlay upon reforms, however urgently needed, is censured as wasteful. Charge 3. —" That the supervision of the patients has been so lax as to permit of the escape of numerous patients, including some considered dangerous." Under this heading will also be considered remarks made in print or otherwise with regard to suicides. Escapes and Suicides. —The average number of escapes from Seacliff Asylum has been sixteen per annum for the last two years and a half, and of these only one was a dangerous lunatic. (Vide Appendix V.) Considering that we have usually had from 210 to 220 male patients employed out-of-doors daily upon a bush farm, the greater number actually at bash-clearing, our list of escapes can scarcely be regarded as unduly large. The average number of escapes in Scotland for four asylums is given by Dr. J. A. Campbell as 5 per cent. (" Journal of Mental Science," July, 1884, " Escapes, Liberty, Happiness, &c"), or exactly half as many again as escape from here—that is to say, the average for an asylum with the same number of patients at Seacliff would be twentyfour per annum. In the Fife and Kinross District Asylum, with 327 patients, the number of escapes for the year ending the 31st December, 1883, was thirty-two, or rather more than three times the proportion escaping from Seacliff. If immunity from escapes and accidents were taken as the sole index of efficiency we should be forced to place Ireland in the front rank as regards treatment of the insane, because there suicides and escapes are (or were until recently) very rare; and yet a large proportion of the Irish asylums have been an opprobrium, medicines, because safety has been attained (?) only by the sacrifice of liberty. What that means it is impossible for any one not intimately acquainted with the insane to realise. Dr. Maudsley, speaking on the passion for liberty among the insane, says : "As I feel most earnestly that I should infinitely prefer a garret or a cellar for lodgings, with bread and water only for food, than to be clothed in purple and fine linen and to fare sumptuously every day as a prisoner, I can well believe that all the comforts which an insane person has in his captivity are but a miserable compensation for his entire loss of liberty*—that they are petty things which weigh not at all against the mighty suffering of a lifelong imprisonment." And yet we are practically asked to close our doors upon our patients, and place them under lock and key—we are expected to become, in a word, the gaolers, not the guardians, of the insane. There would be no other alternative if a reasonable number of escapes were disallowed, for liberty without escapes could not be attained on such an estate as this however large the staff might be. I now turn to the citation of authority for liberal asylum treatment, and it may seem remarkable that one is obliged to go back to old reports in order to find articles dealing comprehensively with the principles which lam called upon to defend. A little reflection shows that this is due to the fact that in the last decade the whole matter has advanced a stage further, and the lightness of according a large share of liberty to the insane is no longer questioned at Home. In the " Journal of Mental Science," January, 1882, is an editorial review of the " Twentythird Annual Report of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland for the Year 1880," from which the following extracts are taken : " The Scotch Lunacy Blue-book is this year of unusual interest, and is well worth the careful perusal of every one who is interested in the treatment of the insane. In addition to the usual information there is an attempt made carefully

* Dr. Maudsley was referring to a time when it was not fully realised how large a share of liberty could be accorded to asylum patients.