ANNUAL REPORT
ON THE
TEZPUR LUNATIC ASYLUM
FOR THE YEAR
18g5.
1. Asylum charge.—I was in charge of the Asylum as Superintendent during the
entire year.
2. Improvemnts.—{a) There were no alterations made in the asylum buildings
during the year, but they were all kept in thorough repair. The masonry cistern with
filtering compartment attached put up by the Public Works Department last year sank
at one end owing to a faulty foundation, and had to be entirely rebuilt.
(/;) The bamboo palisade surrounding the Asylum was renewed in places, the
upper ends of the bamboos, which formerly were pointed, being now cut with blunt ends,
as suggested by the Surgeon-General with the Government of India, when he visited
the Asylum in December 1893.
(c) The use of dry earth in the criminal ward has been continued with marked
benefit. The old plan of washing the floor of this ward has been given up, because,
when washed in the morning, it was often not quite dry at night.
(a) In the non-criminal sleeping wards we use sand spread over the floors. It,
was tried as an experiment instead of dry earth, and answers well, but the female wards
are still leeped. They look much cleaner when leeped.
3. Accommodation.—The Asylum contains accommodation for 80 male and 38 female
patients. The greatest numbers confined in any one day were 93 males and 12 females,
but overcrowding was prevented by the use of the hospital. The sleeping wards are
occupied only at night, and are freely ventilated through the walls.
4. Clothing and bedding.—The summer clothing was, as usual, made by prisoners
in the Tezpurjail, and Bhagalpur Jail blankets were used at night, and for making blanket
coovtas. The Asylum grant for clothing is only Rs. 800 ; this year we have spent over
Rs. 1,000 on clothing. One patient, a discharged sepoy, was very destructive to clothing,
and it frequently happens that when patients are sent out to work, they leave portions
of their clothing behind them. We use rough mattresses and pillows stuffed with straw
instead of tat bedding, but for sanitary reasons we shall probably have to return to tat
bedding in the hot season. Our annual supply of blankets,.indented for in July, has not
yet been received from Bhagalpur, but is expected daily.
5. Drainage.—The drainage of the Asylum is excellent, and no improvement is
contemplated.
6. Hospital accommodation. — No change. The hospital wards arc no better than
the ordinary sleeping wards, and for practical purposes the entire institution is a hospital.
The hospital proper is used for cases which would be objectionable in the ordinary
wards. At present with 89 male patients, the hospital is used as an overflow ward.
7. Water-supply.—No alteration in the supply, which is good and abundant.
A light chain would be better for drawing up the bucket than a rope, which has to be
replaced frequently ; but I am in hopes that we shall some day get a continuous chain and
bucket pump on the dredger principle. These pumps, which cost about Rs. 300, are in
use on some of the tea gardens in the district, and have no complicated parts. Rope
for the well costs us Rs. 2 every month on an average.
8. Conservancy.—No change. The dry-earth system works well. We have only
one paid sweeper.