H—7

1948 NEW ZEALAND

MENTAL HOSPITALS OF THE DOMINION (REPORT ON) FOR 1947

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly jmrsuant to Section 79 of the Mental Defectives Act, 1911

The Hon. M. B. Howard, Minister in Charge of Mental Hospitals, Wellington. Madam, — Wellington, 18th June, 1948. I have the honour to present my annual report upon the work of the Mental Hygiene Division of the Health Department for the year ended 31st December, 1947. Statistical At the end of the year there were 9,112 names of persons upon our registers, including 56 patients at Ashburn Hall private licensed institution and 790 patients who were absent on probation in the care of their relatives and friends. In actual residence in Government hospitals on 31st December there were 8,267 persons, an increase of 93 as compared with a year before, and of this number 7,905 were subject to a reception order and 362 were voluntary boarders. Admissions for the first time of patients and boarders totalled 1,747, an increase of 20 over the previous year, and of these 1,213 were the subject of a reception order and 534 were voluntary boarders. It is of interest that voluntary admissions continue to increase in number, and also proportionately with regard to total admissions.