2
4. A further improvement carried out in the asylum during the past year
was the revision of the establishment attached to it. Increased rates of pay
were sanctioned to the existing jamadars, male and female warders, cook,
malis and male and females sweepers. The following new establishment on
pay noted against each was also sanctioned :—
A compounder on Rs. 15—½—20 per month; 2 jamadars on Rs. 12 each ;
1 female hospital attendant on Rs. 7½—½—10; 13 warders on Rs. 7—½—10
each; 1 mistry on Rs. 12 ; 1 carpenter on Rs. 16 ; 1 bhisti on Rs. 6; 2 male swee-
pers on Rs. 7 each and a female sweeper on Rs. 6 per month. Sanction to the en-
tertainment of 10 out of the 13 new warders and of 2 jamadars was received after
the close of the year under review. The increased staff of warders has been a
step decidedly in the right direction. Much depends on the warder staff in the
management of lunatics,and it is hoped that with the better prospects now offer-
red to them, it will now be possible to recruit better men for these responsible but
unpopular and unattractive appointments. The Superintendent considers the
staff to be still scarcely adequate. A lunatic asylum is worked on very differ-
ent lines from those of a Jail. In an asylum the lunatics are not only detained
but tended, treated and cared, for, with a view to cure, if possible, their mental
troubles. The lunatics should be allowed to remain in the open air as much
as possible and amused in different ways according to their various tempera-
ments, but this is not practicable without a sufficient number of warders to
watch over them. The warders should also be well paid in order to attract
responsible men to do the hard work expected of them.
5. There is no accommodation for European and Eurasian lunatics in the
Patna Lunatic Asylum. We have been allowed, under the sanction of the
Government of India, to send such lunatics to the Bhowanipore Asylum in Bengal,
the Government of Bengal having agreed to this arrangement. Some difficulty
was, however, experienced in this respect during the past year. An Eurasian boy
at Darbhanga developed symptoms of insanity and became too violent to be
kept at home. The father of the boy had not sufficient means to enable him
to maintain his son at the Bhowanipore Asylum and evidently he did not wish
to send his son there as a pauper lunatic. Eventually, however, the boy had to
be sent by the father to the Bhowanipore Asylum, having become unmanageable
at home. This difficulty will be removed when the Central Asylum for
Europeans has been built at Ranchi, which may be expected at a not very
distant date, as the estimate of cost of the project amounting to Rs. 13,09,505
has now been sanctioned by the Government of India and the work has
actually been taken up.
6. The total new admissions during the year were 85 against 69 in 1912—
the cause of the increase is obvious. Of these, 36 were criminals, 32 males
and 4 females and 49 were non-criminals 41 males, and 8 females. The
daily average strength was 275.08 against 246.30 in 1912. The total
number discharged cured was 21 against 24 in 1912. The difference is
small. There were 2 escapes—one a criminal and the other a non-criminal.
The non-criminal was recaptured and the warders, through whose
negligence the escape was possible were punished with fines. The criminal
is still at large. The jamadar who was mainly at fault in not provid-
ing a proper guard over this lunatic was punished with a fine. The
overseer also was given a warning. The number of sick in the hospital
was 281 against 182 in 1912. The increase is attributed to the following
causes : increased number of lunatics and bad health and advanced age of
the new admissions. There was also another factor at work. The major
portion of the asylum grounds and the floors of some of the barracks were
under water for some days during the floods. Another cause which is also
to some extent responsible for the increased number of sick was the delay
which occurred in fixing up a new pump. The drinking water had to be
obtained from an inferior source. The number of deaths also was more than
that in the previous year, the figures being 41 (including a case of homicidal
strangulation) against 26 in 1912. The proportion per cent. of deaths to
daily average strength was 14.90 and the death-rate per mille of population
was 119.19. The proportion per cent. of deaths to daily average strength in
the lunatic asylums in the Central Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Punjab,