H.—B

20

patients, who are unprovided with any means of amusement or occupation, and many of whom are violent, dangerous, and discontented. Some pace incessantly up and down the stone flags, others sit closely packed under the verandah, and others lie sprawling in all directions on the ground. Many of them are very untidily dressed. A more dismal, depressing place than this refractory ward, with its wretched yard, I have never seen. The third ward is in continuation backwards from the day-room of the refractory. First, there is a small dormitory for four patients, with attendants' room attached. Next to this is a large one, 37 feet 6 inches by 21 feet, and 13 feet high, containing twenty beds. This room is light and cheerful, and has four windows to the south side overlooking the garden. There is no furniture but the beds, which are of an ugly, clumsy pattern, and two glasses. A passage from this dormitory, on to which opens lavatory, bath-room, attendants' room, and scullery, leads to the day-room of the ward. This is 60 feet long by 13 feet wide, and has seven windows on the south and nine single rooms on the north side. There are four ventilators in the roof, and fire-places at each end. The furniture consists of three tables down the centre, backless benches, a Windsor chair, and a sofa. There are no pictures, ornaments, or books in the room, which is bare and gloomy. The single rooms are similar to those ofthe preceding ward, and lighted from the roof. Through one of them, which is occupied by an attendant, is the entrance to along cross passage, also lighted from the roof, and having eight single sleeping-rooms for patients on each side, lighted in a similar manner. These rooms are 6 feet 7 inches by 7 feet 4 inches, with sloping roofs, and contain 660 cubic feet of air. The beds are the same as those in the dormitory. This passage terminates in a dormitory for six patients, with two outside doors, one leading to the bakehouse, and the other opening into the airing yard. There are sixty patients and four attendants in this ward. The airing yard is enclosed by it and the preceding one and a high wall. It is about 120 feet by 72 feet, is laid down in grass, and has an asphalted walk in it. A verandah extends the full length of the side facing the north. It is crowded with patients who have nothing to occupy them, and are completely overlooked from a public road. It is quite a relief to pass from the male to the female department, which, though labouring under many of the same disadvantages, is in several respects greatly superior. In ward No. 1 there are twenty-one patients and two attendants. The two day-rooms are cheerful, comfortably furnished, prettily ornamented, and have a very domestic appearance. There is a piano in one of them. There are two dormitories in this ward. The first contains ten beds made of red pine, and of a pretty pattern. Its walls are nicely painted and decorated with several pictures in guilt frames. There are curtains to the windows, which have a pleasant outlook beyond the airing court. The second is 37 feet by 13 feet, and contains thirteen iron beds. It has four windows, which look into the male airing court, and have consequently to be dimmed. The walls are papered, and the room is very clean and tidy. The second ward contains thirty patients, with three attendants. This and the third ward have a general similarity to the corresponding parts on the male side, but are much more comfortable, and more suitable for their purpose. There are two airing courts on the female side. The one is large, is laid down in grass, has a verandah, and a view of the hills. The other is a small court at the back of the ward No. 1, and is not much used. Tho recreation hall, which is a fine large airy room, adjoins No. 1 female ward, and has a door opening into it, and another out to the bowling-green in front of the Asylum. The patients in this ward, the most of whom are convalescents, have free access to this hall, and through it to the garden beyond, and have thus a great deal of liberty. They are neatly dressed, as most of the female patients are, and they look very cheerful and contented. Within the grounds of the Asylum is situated Park House, which was formerly a private residence, and is now occupied by a few private male patients and partly by Mr. Hume's family. The accommodation is poor, and some of the sleeping-rooms are much too small, but the patients are allowed a great deal of liberty, and seem very contented with their quarters. There is a bakehouse, in which all the bread used in the Asylum is made, and latterly the Gaol has been supplied by bread baked in the Asylum. There are laundry and washing-houses, in which all the washing is done by the patients and two paid laundresses. The water for the Asylum is got from the town supply in sufficient quantity, but it is said to be very often drumly. The waterclosets are placed so that they are entered only from Uie airing courts. They are constructed so that they can be flushed three times a day. They are kept very clean and fresh. The provision against fire consists of three hydrants, with a supply of 2-inch hose. The sewage is disposed of in a manner which has been strongly condemned by scientific authorities, and which is at least extremely offensive, if not downright dangerous, both for the Asylum and the town. It is collected into four underground tanks. From these tanks there are overflow pipes which permit the fluid part to escape. It flows for some distance in an open drain, then enters a short culvert, and then again enters an uncovered drain, and is finally discharged into the harbour. The tanks are opened about once in three months, and the solid matter is removed and buried in trenches. The open drain has a most offensive smell. Dr. Macgregor has repeatedly called attention to this disgusting and dangerous system of drainage, but apparently with little effect. The Asylum grounds are much too small to admit of the sewage being utilized in the usual manner, and it is evident that the drainage of the Asylum should be properly connected with that of the town. The roof water is utilized for flushing the drains. A number of pigs are kept, and they are the property of the Asylum and not of the Keeper; a large quantity of bacon is cured and consumed on the premises. The saving in the cost of maintenance must by this means be very considerable, besides which the diet of the patients is agreeably varied. In addition to the ordinary diet, which is very liberal in this Asylum, all the working patients frequently get bacon and eggs to their breakfast, and jam, a great deal of which is made from the produce of the Asylum garden, to their tea. Great attention is paid to the economy in management of this Asylum, and the cost of maintenance here is very much lower than in some other Asylums in the colony. The number of inmates on the 14th December, 1876, was—males, 162; females, 66—total, 228; and the males are twelve in excess of the number for which there is accommodation. The patients come pouring in at a rate which even if the Asylum were large enough would tax to the utmost the energies of the staff to give them proper attention. No less than thirteen patients were admitted in the month of December, 1876, alone. The large number of males unemployed (114) is evidently owing neither