LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL. 15
Rs. 1,040-9-1, do not represent an actual loss, although they certainly appear to
do so from the peculiar construction of the table. The calculation in column
19 is arrived at in accordance with the tabular footnote in the statement
which Government has prescribed. I cannot understand the precise object of
the footnote; it does not appear to me to be necessary, and is distinctly mis-
leading. In the footnote, after the balance has been already struck in the
body of the statement and shown in column 17, the debit balance is again a
second time deducted, and the naturally resulting loss is entered in column 19.
In the same way, if the difference in the value of raw materials and manufac-
tured articles between the beginning and end of the year had been on the
credit instead of on the debit side, this difference would have been added to
the profits in column 17 instead of subtracted, and so a delusive profit would
have been shown. This will explain the disproportionately high profits of
some former years. In my annual report the sum of Rs. 417-5-4 was called
" net " profit; it should have in terms of the prescribed form been called profit.
In the year 1884 there was only a profit of Rs. 32-8 as shown in column 17
of statement XI for that year. The net loss according to the calculation on
which the figures in column 19 are based was Rs. 87-6-2. Through an over-
sight as I had just taken over charge of the asylum, I explained the loss as due
to the failure of the castor-oil industry, indulgences to lunatics, &c. I ought
to have attributed the small profits to these causes, as there was no actual loss.
It will thus be seen that neither in 1884 nor in 1885 was there any actual loss
sustained by the Manufacture Department. On the contrary, there was a
profit each year, and in 1885 it was a pretty large sum, considering that articles
to the value of Rs. 11,847-9-3 were made over for asylum purposes at the actual
cost price, and indulgences were allowed to lunatics as a reward for good
work to the value of Rs. 397-0-9." The diminished net profit at Dacca was
due, it is said, to one of the worksheds for the manufacture of mustard oil having
been unused for the greater part of the year. The tiled roof slipped during a
storm, and as the building was not on the books of the Public Works Depart-
ment, it could not be repaired. It will, however, shortly be made over to that
department.
40. General management, alterations, and improvements.—The Superintendent
of Dullunda Asylum reports that there is a free supply of filtered water for drink-
ing and cooking purposes, and of unfiltered water laid on in pipes from the
Calcutta main for bathing and latrine ablutions. The males and females are
each provided with capacious shower-baths. The dry-earth system of conser-
vancy is rigidly enforced. The solid excreta mixed with earth are converted
into " poudrette " by a pugmill, and then in a perfectly odourless and inoffen-
sive condition buried in the garden in trenches. The Superintendent says a
scheme is under consideration for making a connection with the Hastings
and Calcutta main sewer for the removal of liquid excreta, ablution water,
blanket and other foul washings which accumulate daily in large quantity
and cause very considerable difficulty in getting rid of it. The present
plan of burying the foul water in pits in the garden is objectionable and
cannot be carried on much longer with safety. The garden is already over
manured, and further additions of liquid sewage will, it is said, diminish
instead of enhance its fertility. The water-supply at Patna continues the
same. The dry-earth system is in use here, and the night-soil is carried away
and buried about half a mile from the asylum. The Superintendent of the
Patna Asylum reports that the surrounding land outside the asylum boundary
is in a very insanitary condition, and appears to be used as a common privy.
The attention of the municipality has been drawn to the existing state of
affairs, but nothing, it is said, has yet been done. The Superintendent also
states that " the office is a very inferior building, the floor being below the
general level of the garden in front. Some new buildings are much needed.
A better hospital is also required." The Superintendent of the Dacca Asylum
reports as follows:—" Municipal water was used for all purposes of drinking,
cooking, and bathing throughout the year. A scheme for a separate supply of
water for the jail and asylum was submitted during the year, but as it pro-
vided unfiltered river water in the place of the filtered water to all the hydrants
in the asylum except one, I gave it my unqualified disapproval, and I believe