LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
37
Special remarks.
It seems right to bring to notice the remarks of Dr. Payne regarding
some observations which were made by His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor
regarding the report of Bhowanipore Asylum for the year 1876, in a resolution
dated 20th October 1877.
" The Lieutenant-Governor noticed the high figure set down in the
financial table as the average cost of each lunatic in the asylum, and
drew the very natural conclusion that economy was not much studied
in the place. I knew that the several changes introduced in late years
had very greatly reduced the cost of the asylum; but this had not been
acknowledged as their primary object, and consequently no attempt had ever
been made to set forth in concise form the financial result. It was evident,
too, that so long as the cost of working the asylum should continue to be
represented in this manner, the Surgeon-General and the Government must
remain in ignorance of many advantages gained or the reverse, and especially
of the cost of that class of persons whom alone the State is supposed to
maintain gratuitously. Accordingly I prepared and submitted in December
a history of the asylum administration with especial reference to its cost from
1860 to its present time. I desired to embody in this paper all the infor-
mation that could be obtained in the asylum records and elsewhere, and found
it impossible to avoid altogether the confusion of financial with calendar
years. The figures, therefore, cannot be checked by the annual returns; but
I believe them to be absolutely trustworthy as to the points and the progress
they are intended to illustrate. At the same time the results exhibited are
large enough to be free from all risk of disturbance from any error or
confusion that can have occurred."
"If the argument put forward in that statement be accepted, it will be
allowed that in an asylum for rich and poor, when the heaviest items are
fixed charges, an average charge per head, without distinction of class or
circumstance, though it be authentically faultless, must be utterly misleading
for judgment on the proper use of the public money and on progress."
" I have appended to this report the usual financial statement nevertheless,
and it will serve as a further illustration of the fallacy. I have added a
detailed statement of the sums expended on every item of charge from month
to month. This repeated from year to year will be a true guide."
" The entire cost of European lunatics in 1877 was Rs. 33,303. In this is
included the passage-money of the paupers from Bombay to England,
estimated at Rs. 550 each, with the cost of their conveyance to Bombay paid
by the police, Rs. 452. We have not heard whether any payment has yet been
made to Bombay for the maintenance of these persons before their embarka-
tion, nor do we know how long they remain there. Our total figures may err,
therefore, by a trifling amount."
" This sum of Rs. 33,303 exceeds that returned for 1876 by Rs. 4,108.
No accounts have been received from Bombay, and no entry was therefore
made in the returns of 1876 of the cost of shipment. Five patients we
despatched in that year, and, assuming the same rates as the above, we should
add to the figures of 1876 a sum of Rs. 3,912 on this account. Again the
total outlay of 1876 was not made to include the payments to private
servants. This was an error; credit was taken in the column of receipts for
wages paid by inmates for servants, and corresponding debit should have
been made on the other side. A further addition of Rs. 889 for servants
must be made for 1876, and a total sum of Rs. 4,801 results. The difference
between the two years thus fairly drawn turns in favour of 1877."
"Yet we have had some unusual demands to meet in 1877. Large and
increased daily average number, with a proportion of paying patients, has
raised our diet bills from Rs. 7,211 to Rs. 8,866 (we spent Rs. 140 on alcoholic
stimulants in the year). With enhanced payment by these people it was
right to improve our poor accommodation to the utmost. Furniture and decent
table services were bought at a cost of nearly Rs. 1,000, whereupon
our contingent charges rose from Rs. 2,203 to Rs. 2,793. The wages
of private servants advanced from Rs. 889 to Rs. 1,698. All these things go to
make up the gross outlay, and they must be mentioned here. This gross outlay,
distributed over the entire number of inmates, and largely composed of items