2

H.—26

E E P O E T.

To His Excellency the Right Honourable Uchter John Mark, Earl of Ranfurly, Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over His Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies. My Lord, — We have the honour to report that, in carrying out the duties imposed upon us by your Commission, we first inspected the Costley Home, after which we proceeded to take evidence tendered to us by the late manager of the Home, Mr. John Moss, and the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board; also the evidence of witnesses who, in our judgment, were able to give us information as to the past and present condition of the institution. We find that in April, 1883, the sum of £12,150 was bequeathed by Edward Costley to the Old Men's Home at Auckland. The capital sum, with the accumulated interest, was paid to the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board in 1886. The buildings were completed in 1890. When the purchase-money of land recently acquired is paid, the sum of £1,363 4s. sd. will be the balance left in the hands of the Board. With the exception of the interest on the balance still in hand the cost of maintenance of the Home is borne half by the local authorities of the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid District, and half by the Government in the form of a subsidy. The Home is under the control of the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. The buildings are of brick. The main building of two stories contains the Manager's quarters, the dining-rooms for the male and female inmates, the female-wards, the maternity ward, and the kitchen with its offices. The men's wards are situated about 30 yards to the rear of the main building, and are connected with it by a covered way. Situated a short distance from the malewards is a building appropriated to the use of married people, tenanted at present by two old couples. There are also two refractory-wards, one for males and one for females. They are only used in exceptional circumstances. On our visit we found the male refractory-ward was tenanted by two old men who voluntarily slept there. Immediately behind the men's quarters is the laundry, and about 150 yards from the main building is situated a large piggery. The buildings stand on 16 acres of land. Immediately upon our arrival at Auckland we paid a surprise visit to the Costley Home. We found it in an exceedingly dirty condition. The beds and bedding were filthy and uncared-for: the general aspect of the dormitories was desolate and comfortless. The clothes of the inmates generally, and particularly those of the patients in the infirmary wards, were dirty; some of the inmates were infested with vermin : the bedding was dirty and inadequate, even that fresh from the laundry appeared to be only half-washed; many of the beds and pillows in both the male and female dormitories were of coarse straw. (On a subsequent visit we found that in the female infirmary ward, containing thirteen beds, ten mattresses and three pillows were of straw, the remainder being of kapok.) The bedsteads were of iron, many of them having been brought from the Refuges thirteen years ago. They were in a dilapidated condition and unsulted to present requirements. At the entrance to each male-ward there is a small day-room furnished with benches, a table, and a fireplace. Many of these day-rooms contained beds, which are occupied in some cases both day and night. These rooms were dreary and uncomfortable. The baths were insufficient in number, and were in a filthy and insanitary condition. There is an insufficient supply of hot water. The heating apparatus for the whole institution consists of a 36-gallon circulating-boiler attached to the kitchen range. Any additional hot water required has to be heated outside. Some of the baths are not connected with the hot-water system. The outside closets on the men's side are fitted with earth-pans: those on the women's side are flushed with water, as also are those attached to the men's infirmary ward. The urinals were badly constructed, and were in a dirty and insanitary condition. We were present at the dinner-hour of the inmates. The dinner consisted of soup and badly boiled meat of second quality, cabbages, potatoes, and bread. The method of service was defective, the soup, meat, and vegetables being placed upon the table before the inmates were summoned to their meal; the consequence was that the meat and vegetables were cold before they had finished their soup. The cooking appliances we found to be obsolete and inadequate. Many of the inmates complained of the bad quality and insufficient quantity of the food, also of the want of sufficient butter at tea, which we saw was very scanty. The system of drainage was found to be defective and insanitary. The whole of the drainage of the institution, including the piggeries, empties into a large brick-lined tank. The sewage is pumped by hand from this tank and spread on the garden. This is a menace to the health of the inmates and the surrounding district. Some of the sewage from the tank is led into a volcanic fissure; its ultimate destination is unknown. The laundry, which has to do the washing for the whole of the Auckland Hospital and the Home, is quite inadequate to cope with the work, the appliances being obsolete. The present staff at the Home consists of a Manager, who is a young married man with a family—his wife taking no part in the affairs of the institution. They occupy the Manager's quarters and have the services of a housemaid, whose duty it is to attend upon the Manager and his family, and to keep clean the main corridor of the building, and the Manager's offices. The Manager is assisted by two male attendants, a night watchman, a cleaner, and two cooks. On the