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6. The Benares Asylum was inspected by me in November, 1916. I
found the whole place beautifully clean and neatly kept, and I have never seen
the asylum in better order. I was pleased to find a great improvement in the
death rate as compared with that of the previous year. The decrease is I believe
to some extent due to the improved feeding arrangements introduced since the
return of Lieutenant-Colonel Crawford who is thoroughly conversant with every
detail of the working of the institution. His successful management was evident
in all branches of the administration.
The asylum has been fortunate also in obtaining the services of Khan
Bahadur Hashmat Ali Khan as Deputy Superintendent. He joined the institu-
tion on the 6th July, 1916, on his retirement from the Jail department where
his record was an excellent one.
A dysentery ward costing nearly Rs. 8,000 is under construction and the
old hospital barrack is being converted into a tubercle ward. Barrack no. 19
which was burnt down during the year has been re-roofed at a cost of over
Rs. 5,000. The roofs of the buildings in the female and criminal enclosures
are of a very bad type and the whole matter of barrack re-roofing will have to be
gradually proceeded with year by year as funds become available.
The municipal water supply is still defective.
The Bareilly Asylum was twice inspected by mo during the year namely
in February and July. I found the place extremely clean and neatly kept, and
its general condition most satisfactory. Verandahs have been added to the male
and female tubercle wards at a cost of Rs. 1,730. This is a great improvement.
The orection of wire fencing outside the boundary wall has also considerably
improved the site. The project for providing the well with a capstan pump was
sanctioned in 1914, but for financial reasons the work could not be undertaken in
1915 or 1916.
The Agra Asylum was visited by me early in January, 1917. It is a
depressing business inspecting this asylum as one feels, especially under present
conditions when anything in the shape of financial aid from Government is out
of the question, the impossibility of being able to do anything of any importance
in the way of improving existing conditions. Indeed, even with any money
which Government may be able to afford in more prosperous times the institution
can never be made a really satisfactory one. I am, however, glad to state
that I found improvements in several directions. The whole place was more
neat and tidy, the grass plots and grounds are better kept, and the roads have
been greatly improved. Considerable improvements have been effected in the
cooking arrangements by the conversion of a building, which was unsuitable
as a barrack, into a cook-house fitted with two ranges on the standard jail pattern.
Three blocks of five cells each were completed during the year at a cost of
Rs. 15,120. The institution is being run on much more sensible and practical
lines by Major O'Mcara than it has been in the past. The municipal water
supply was extremely inadequate from September to November, but the defect
has since been remedied.
7. Owing to the want of accommodation at Agra admissions had to be
stopped for some time. The number of lunatics in this asylum on the 31st
December, 1915, was 710, whereas at the close of the year 1916 there were 768.
The asylum capacity is for a total of 750 inmates. The recently constructed
three blocks of five cells each have increased the accommodation by 15, but, if the
present rate of admissions continues, further accommodation will be required.
The resources of the asylums will probably be still further taxed in the future for,
in addition to the growing demand for admission, Government has recently acoord-
ed a general consent to the transfer to asylums in these Provinces of all mili-
tary lunatics belonging to the United Provinces confined in asylums in the Bom-
bay Presidency. If the European patients could be transferred elsewhere it would
set free an appreciable amount of accommodation for Indian patients, but the es-
tablishment of the European Central Lunatic Asylum at Ranchi is presumably un-
likely for some years to come.
To meet the difficulty experienced in securing suitable candidates as female
warders, Government revised the scale of pay of these employés with effect from
the 1st March, 1916. In September, 1916, it was also ruled that the entire
service of head warders, including the service rendered by them as warders, should