H.—7

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this step is obvious when one considers the decayed condition of many parts of the building, the great risk from fire, and the restricted avenues of employment that are available for the patients. Mount View was built in 1873, and received the patients from the old Karori Asylum. The site for the building had been prepared by prison-labour during the preceding year. The building was completed by May, 1873, and gave accommodation for 28 males and 28 females. As the number transferred from Karori was 39 men and 31 women, one sees that overcrowding was experienced in the early days. As time went on, increased accommodation was built until the total provided was approved for 139 males and 88 females. The yearly admissions show a rough gradual rise till 1898, when the maximum of 143 for the year was reached. In all, 3,142 patients have received treatment here during the last thirty-six years. Of these, 2,401 have been discharged under the headings of— recovered, 1,312; relieved, 346; not improved, 743; and 513 have died. Up till 1884 the institution was under the management of a lay Superintendent, and was visited daily by the Prison Surgeon. In that 3-ear Dr. E. G. Levinge was appointed Resident Medical Superintendent, and he remained in charge until 1887. He carried out much work of reorganization, in order to place Mount View on an equality with institutions of similar nature in Great Britain. On Dr. Levinge's promotion in 1887 to the charge of Sunnyside he was succeeded here by Dr. Radford King, who remained in charge for one year. In 1888 Dr. Gray Hassell became Medical Superintendent. It was owing to his foresight and grasp of the future requirements of the institution that much work of an important and practical nature was carried out. The value of this work —road and reservoir making, the laying-out of gardens and airing-courts for the patients—must have been as greatly appreciated by Dr. Hassell's other successors as it has been by myself. Following Dr. Hassell on the list of those who have been in charge at Mount View come the names of Dr. Ernest Fooks, now deceased, and Dr. Baxter Gow, now of Sunnyside. From the homelike character of its interior, lacking as it does much of the formally institutional, Mount View has found many friends among its inmates. Its passing-away is accompanied by feelings of sorrow and regret among all members of its staff. To revert to the statistics for 1909, I find that at the beginning of the year there were 249 patients under care, and at the close there were 205, 4 men and 47 women having been transferred to other institutions. The average number resident was 239. Fifty-two patients were admitted, 12 of whom were readmissions ;10 patients died, making a death-rate of slightly over 4 per cent. One man, liberated on trial after a year's care, committed suicide by hanging. In addition to the admission of certified cases, 24 persons whose sanity was in question were admitted on the Magistrates' warrant for a short course of treatment : 9 of these were discharged, and 13 required to be certified as insane. The general health of the community was again good, and no untoward occurrence took place. The work of the institution, especially at the end of the year and for the first four months of 1910, was restricted to a great extent both by the building operations for the Governor's residence and by the fact that Mount View was shortly to be closed. Nevertheless I have to acknowledge with thanks a large amount of good work done by the officers and members of the staff. Much work of an unusual nature in connection with the closing of the institution has devolved upon the clerk. lam much indebted to Mr.-Wells for the capable and energetic way in which he has carried this out. I hope some means may be found of retaining his services for our Department. I have, &c, The Inspector-General, Mental Hospitals, Wellington. Arthur Crosby.