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waist. This patient is said to prefer her own chair (which, though ugly, is comfortable) to any other ; the strap has not often to be used. These means of restraint, when adopted, should be entered in the medical register. Of the present female population, two are epileptic, two are idiots, one is paralytic, one is suicidal, seven are visited, and three are lifted by the night attendant, three are wet and dirty, six are helpless, thirty are violent, and thirty-one are considered curable. In connection with this Asylum is a small building called the " North House," which was intended for inebriates, for whose use, however, it is too commodious, and is not entirely set apart. It contains two sitting-rooms, several bed-rooms, and accommodation for an attendant, and has a nice garden attached to it. There arc fourteen male patients in it at present; it was found in excellent order. There are several cottages ou the grounds for the use of married attendants. This is a very good thing to have. Nothing is more essential to the satisfactory management of an Asylum than a good class of attendants, and one of the best means of securing this is to supply comfortable homes for married men. These cottages, however, are mostly too small fully to serve this purpose. An abundant supply of water is got from artesian wells, and raised to the cisterns by pumps worked by the wind. No proper system of drainage is iv operation. The earth-closets are not found to work well; earth is therefore not used. They are kept clean by means of carbolic powder and lime, and by being emptied daily. The drains from the sculleries, lavatories, &c, discharge their contents into the ground close to the Asylum. Divine service is held regularly every week in the large recreation hall adjoining the male department. This hall was built by subscriptions raised by Mr. Seager. It contains a very fine organ, which is valued at £700, and is a source of great benefit and happiness to the patients. The organ-pipes were bought in England, and the organ was built by a late brother of Mr. Seager's, and cost little or nothing beyond the pipes. A great deal of attention is paid to the recreation and amusement of the patients. The register and books are kept with great care. The staff is as follows : —Surgeon, at £300 per annum ; Keeper, at £300 per annum ; Matron, at £66 13s. 4d. per annum ; head attendant, at Bs. per diem ; eleven attendants, at 7s. per diem ; eight female attendants, at 4s. per diem ; one night attendant, at 7s. per diem ; cook, at 6s. per diem ; messenger, at £52 per annum ; one attendant, drunkards' ward, at 6s. per diem ; cook, at ss. per diem; kitchen lad, at £26 per aunum. The Medical Officer attends daily and visits the male and female wards on alternate days. Tho management of this Asylum reflects the highest credit on Mr. Seager. No one can inspect it without being struck with the abundant evidence of his ability and untiring devotion to his patients. Nothing but a very high sense of duty could enable any one to contend as he does against the incessant and disheartening troubles caused by the excessive crowding of the male department.

Hokitika Asylum. Inspected 18th, 19th, and 20th December, 1876. This Asylum is situated about a mile from the town of Hokitika, on a gravel terrace. The site is a very healthy one, and commands a pleasant view, and has the great advantage of affording abundant means of employment for tho patients. It is a Government reserve of about 180 acres of forest land. It has the disadvantage of being alongside the Gaol, which is only separated from the Asylum by a high fence of corrugated iron, and that there is no water supply except the rain. No definite quantity of this reserve appears to have been assigned to the Asylum. About twenty acres have been gradually cleared by the labour of the patients, and appropriated for their use. The building is one-storeyed and of wood. The plan on which it is constructed has been adopted more with a view to the very limited funds at disposal for the purpose, than with regard to what might be most desirable for an institution of the sort. It was opened for the reception of patients in April, 1872, and was intended to accommodate thirty-one males and nine females. On the male side is a large day-room 36 feet by 28 feet, which serves also as the dining-room for the males and the recreation-room for both sexes. On the one side of this is an associated dormitory for six patients, which is only separated from the day-room by a folding-door, so that it can be made to serve as a stage- for theatricals, &c. Beyond this dormitory, and opening off it, is another larger one for sixteen patients. A row of single sleepingrooms open on these three rooms on the south side. The day-room is well lighted and ventilated, and has a door opening on to the garden in front. The furniture is very plain, consisting of three large deal tables and six benches without backs, and two strips of matting. The walls are painted a light cheerful colour in oil, and ornamented with a few nice pictures. The dormitories, especially the large one, are also good rooms, well lighted and ventilated; save a piece of matting, they contain no furniture beyond the beds, which are very clean and comfortable-looking. The bedsteads are of iron. The bedding consists of straw mattresses, which are unusually well made, a binding blanket, two blankets wide enough to double into four if the patients prefer it, two cotton sheets, straw pillows, and woollen coverlet. The windows are provided with shutters, which when closed admit the air pretty freely. There are ventilators in the roof of these rooms, and they, as well as the day-room, are lighted by gas. There are no chambers in these rooms, buckets being used instead. There are nine single rooms, one of which is padded. The bedding is similar to that iv the dormitories. Some of them have good sized windows furnished with shutters. Three of them have small windows high up, and unprovided with shutters. They are all rather small, t^vo of them, and one used as a tailors' shop, very obviously so. The female department is separated from the male by a small block consisting of the kitchen behind and three small rooms in front, separated by a passage which opens into the female day-room on the one Bide and the male on the other. The middle room of these three is used as a work-room by the Matron. The one next the male day-room opens into it, and is occupied by a male attendant. The one on the other side is occupied by two female attendants, for whom it is obviously much too small, and opens on the female day-room. The day-room is cheerful, and, like that on the male side, has a 3—H. 8.