9

H.—B

Cost of Maintenance op the Insane. The average cost per head per annum for the maintenance ofthe insane is very high in most of the New Zealand Asylums, and this is not altogether owing to the dearness of labour, clothing, &c. One great cause of the excessive cost of maintenance is the unnecessary extent to which wine, spirits, porter, and ale are used in several of the Asylums, and the high price of these articles. In the Wellington Asylum, the consumption of these things last year was so dishonestly extravagant that no one is likely to attempt to justify it; but it was also very great in the Christchurch Asylum, which was managed on quite different principles, and in the Nelson Asylum. That it was needlessly so can easily be seen by comparing one Colonial Asylum with another ; and that it is not actually necessary in the management of Asylums to give even the light cheap beer used in England, much less an expensive substitute for it, is shown by the experience of some ofthe Scotch Asylums, and also of the Hokitika Asylum, where the patients are in as good health, and work as willingly and well, to say the least of it, as in any other Asylum in the colony. The cousumption of wine, spirits, &c. in the Nelson Asylum was more than ten times greater than in Hokitika Asylum, which has four more patients, and there certainly was no corresponding benefit derived. The expenditure for rations also varies in the different Asylums, in a manner which is very striking. In Dunedin Asylum, great attention is paid to the dietary ofthe patients, and yet with an average resident number of 222, and with a staff of attendants, who are found in food, the amount spent on this item was £423 less than it was in Christchurch Asylum, with an average resident number of 177, and a staff of attendants, most of whom provide for themselves. The expenditure for rations at Wellington, where the diet scale was not adhered to, was about £4 a head greater than in Dunedin ; and the expenditure in rations at Nelson Asylum, where no diet scale existed, and where the number of patients is less by twenty than at Wellington, was nearly the same, aud was £243 more than the cost of rations in Hokitika, where there were four more patients. A great source of economy in food at Dunedin is found in the breeding of pigs, which are killed and used for the patients ; and much is saved at Hokitika in milk and butter by keeping cows. Another item of expenditure, which varies so much as to show that it is needlessly high in some Asylums, is wages. These are lowest in Auckland and Nelson, where wages in general are apparently lower than in other parts of the colony; but if good attendants can be got at Dunedin for £100 with their keep, and at Christchurch for £127 without their keep, it can surely not be necessary to give them £146 and their keep at Wellington. Assuredly paying so much more at Wellington has not succeeded in securing better attendants than at these two other Asylums. Asylum attendants require to be well chosen and well paid, but offering too high a pay has the effect, not of bringing forward the class of men from whom good attendants are made, but unsuccessful members of a more pretentious class. Maintenance oi? Pbitate Patients. The amount of contributions paid from private sources towards the maintenance of the insane in Asylums seems small for a country like New Zealand, where there is so much general prosperity ; and there is reason to believe that patients are frequently provided for at the public expense who have relatives able at least to assist them. Probably the fact of the Asylums being Government institutions, the expenses of which are borne by the general community, is partly a cause of this. People have a much greater dislike to their insane relatives coming on the parish, and being put into Asylums as pauper lunatics, than to their being maintained by the Government; and when the burden of maintaining the insane in Asylums falls on parishes, there is less likelihood of relatives able to contribute to their support being overlooked, than when it is borne by the general community. At any rate, the facilities for avoiding the maintenance of insane relatives by persons able and legally bound to undertake it have hitherto been great. According to the Lunacy Act, as modified by the Public Trust Office Amendment Act, the money paid for the maintenance of private patients should be collected by the Public Trustee. But no sufficient provision was made for supplying him with the information necessary to enable him to do so. It was left to the Asylum Superintendents to make inquiries regarding the pecuniary circumstances of patients and their relations, and to report thereon to the Public Trustee ; and this was a duty which they had neither time nor the best opportunities to discharge. At the same time it was found convenient for persons paying maintenance accounts to do so at the Asylums, and accordingly, except at Christchurch and Auckland, the accounts were collected by the Asylum Superintendents. But this was work still less suited for these officers than ascertaining the pecuniary circumstances of patients and their friends. To remedy these defective provisions, instructions have been given by the Hon. the Minister of Justice to the Clerks of Courts that when an insane person is committed to an Asylum, inquiries should be made as to what relatives he may have liable for his maintenance, and that a memorandum showing the circumstances of the patient, the name and address of the persons liable for his maintenance, and the weekly amount considered by the committing Magistrate a fair and reasonable charge, should be forwarded along with the order of admission to the Asylum. A copy of this memorandum is sent to the Public Trustee, to whom the contributions are payable. "The Lunatics Act, 1868." Several of the provisions of " The Lunatics Act, 1868," might be altered with clear advantage, but until I have had some further experience of the working of it in its present form, I forbear suggesting any changes. I have the honor to be, Sir, Tour most obedient servant, Feed. W. A. Skae, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Inspector of Lunatic Asylums. 2— H. 8.