( 15 )
No. 1783, dated Lahore, 29th April 1878.
From—Officiating Secretary to Government, Punjab,
To—The Commissioner and Superintendent, Lahore Division.
I AM desired to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 592, of the 25th
March, forwarding the Annual Report on the Lahore Lunatic Asylum for the
year 1877.
2. It appears from paragraph 7 of the report that there is difficulty in
realizing the money due on account of patients for whose maintenance it is
understood their friends are in a position to pay. No information is given in
regard to the defaulting parties, but it is presumed that one out of the two
patients who are placed in this category must be the woman mentioned in the
report for the previous year as being the wife of an employé on the Punjab
Northern State Railway. In such a case, it ought to be possible to realize a
fair allowance for the wife's maintenance while she is in the Asylum. I am
to request that further information may be afforded of the position and circum-
stances of the friends of both these patients, and of the steps that have been
taken to obtain payment of the money claimable on their account.
3. It is observed with satisfaction that the employment of the patients
in work connected with the Asylum and in manufactures is receiving more
attention. It is not to be expected that any great profit will be derived from
the latter, but it is desirable on other grounds that efforts in that direction
should be continued. The unfavourable contrast drawn by the Government of
India during the year under report between the management of the Lahore
and Delhi Asylums in this respect during the year 1876 was shown to be based
only on a difference in the manner in which results of skilled labour had been
exhibited in the returns. But His Honor is glad to see that you have devoted
special attention to the subject this year.
4. The Superintendent states in paragraph 11 of the report that " the
food of the inmates is fairly good, " and " that the cooking also is tolerable."
It cannot be inferred from this that there is anything extraordinary in the diet
of the patients, but the annual cost for each under this head is Rs. 38-8-0 or
Rs. 3-3-4 per mensem, which would seem to be much in excess of what could
be afforded for each member of the majority of families in the station of life
to which most of the Asylum patients would appear to belong. It is more-
over much in excess of the average cost of dieting the prisoners in our jails,
where it is certain the inmates are not unduly stinted in the way of food.
The cost per head in the Lahore Jails during 1876 was as follows :—
Central Jail ... ... ... ... ...
Female Penitentiary ... ... ... ...
Rs.
20
19
A.
4
2
P.
0
5
The Lieutenant-Governor is aware that lunacy is necessarily accompanied
with some waste of the food supplied to those affected by it; but even after
taking this into the account, he considers the difference of the cost in the two
institutions greater than it need be, and that if such difference in cost exists,
the food should be something more than " fairly good. "
5. In paragraph 14 of the report it is stated that, in consequence of a
considerable increase to the number of inmates during the past year, it became
necessary to set apart a portion of the budget assignment for contingencies
to provide for an increase to the Asylum establishment, to which an addition
was consequently made in August last of 4 warders, 1 bhisti and 1 female
coolie, at a cost of Rs. 34 per mensem. On referring to statement No. 1 ap-
pended to the report, it is observed that the number of patients in the Asylum
during the last three years was as follows :—
Present on the 1st January ...
Admissions during the year ...
Total ...
Discharges and deaths ...
Remaining at close of year ...
1875.
255
120
375
139
236
1876.
236
128
364
89
275
1877.
275
101
376
108
268