18
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
and, allowing 50 superficial feet to each person, is capable of accommodating
40 lunatics. The floor is raised four feet above the ground, and the ventilation
is thorough. Since the occupation of the new building, there is now
available space for 167 males and 50 females, or 217 lunatics, while the average
daily number confined during the year has been only 204.9. It has, however,
been impossible to obtain this ample space except for May and June, part of
October, and for November and December. "In the end of 1876 a
sloping tiled roof covered with terrace cement was put on the new ward,
No. 11-2, P. W. B.—a ward consisting of two large dormitories and
calculated for 50 lunatics. The first heavy fall of rain discovered the utter
inefficiency of this new roof; it leaked in all directions, and after a heavy
shower there were one or two inches of water standing on the floor. It was
of course impossible to put lunatics into this ward as long as the rains con-
tinued. I refused to sign the completion report, and the result was a report by
the Superintending Engineer, who has ordered it to be dismantled and
re-constructed. This leaky roof brought our available space down to its former
proportions for four and a half months while the rains lasted, and as ward No. 12
was only opened in the end of April, and 50 lunatics had frequently to be
bundled out of the new ward when unexpected showers of rain came in other
months, and distributed in the other parts of the asylum, there was practi-
cally no improvement as regards available space for eight out of the twelve
months. I mention this lest it might be thought that the marked decrease as
regards sickness and mortality being coincident with the extension of our
space to its normal limits, was due entirely to that cause."
Dr. Crombie gives a table, which he says shows " that there has been no
direct proportion between the amount of overcrowding and the sickness and
mortality from year to year. Thus, in 1874, with a daily average of 75.34
inmates in excess of the population the asylum was calculated for, the daily
sick was 11.9 per cent.; while in 1876, with the population only of 42.34 in
excess of the estimate, the average daily sick was 17.7 per cent." If, however,
we take the four years preceding 1877 together, we find that, on an average,
there were 64.88 lunatics confined every day in excess of the proper number,
with an average of 14.02 per cent. daily in hospital; while in 1877, when the
average excess of population was reduced to 29.96, the average daily sick fell
to 9.8 per cent."
Dr. Crombie further writes:—" A committee, of which I was a member,
was recently convened by order of the Lieutenant-Governor to consider the
question of a site for a new central jail at Dacca. We agreed to recommend
that the present site and buildings of the lunatic asylum should be made
over to the present jail grounds, as the two together would be large enough
for the purposes of both a central and district jail. If this proposal receives
the sanction of Government, it will then remain to select a new site for the
lunatic asylum; and it is possible that this may be necessary during 1878, in
which case I hope that the accommodation afforded for the lunatics will be
of a kind altogether different from that of the present asylum."
Finances.
16. Finances.—During the year Rs. 27-12-3 were received from paying
patients, as compared with Rs. 329-5-6 in 1876. It is said, in explanation of the
smallness of the sum, that a large number of the paying patients were transferred
to other asylums during the early part of the year. The expenditure amounted to
Rs. 8,850-10-5, which was less by Rs. 305 than the expenditure for 1876. Two
out of four hired cooks on Rs. 5 a month were discharged. The present native
doctor receives Rs. 25 instead of Rs. 30, and there was a saving of Rs. 25 a
month during the time the Jailor of the jail acted as Overseer. The cost of
establishment for each inmate was Rs. 43-2-11, against Rs. 44-4-2 in 1876.
The expenditure on account of diet was Rs. 11,616-0-6, or at the rate of
Rs. 56-10-9 for each lunatic confined, with Rs. 54-3-7 in 1876. The increase
is said to be owing to the enhanced rate of prices for provisions during the
past year. Rs. 290-10 were spent on clothing, as compared with Rs. 1,267-14
in 1876, or at the rate of Rs. 1-6-8 instead of Rs. 6-1-11 in 1876. This economy
was effected by patching and mending old clothing, so as to make it stand over
for another year, and the substitution of dosooti jackets for chudders of Ameri-
can cloth which were formerly issued. Bazar medicines cost Rs. 24-4 as