8
owing chiefly to the inclusion under this head, at the instance of the
Accountant-General. Bengal, of the expenditure on account of the Manufac-
turing Department which has hitherto been treated as a separate item-
There was a small decrease under this head in the Berhampore Lunatic
Asylum which does not call for an explanation. This resulted in a nett
increase of Rs. 1,621 in the total expenditure under this head.
Public Works Department charges decreased from Rs. 18,879 in 1913 to
Rs. 11,213 in 1914 owing to the fact that very few structural improvements
were carried out to the asylum buildings last year.
A much smaller expenditure was incurred in all the asylums during the
past year under the head Taxes owing to the fact that the owner's share of
Municipal taxes on the asylum buildings which has hitherto been paid from
the grants of the lunatic asylums is now paid by the Public Works
Department.
19. Statement IX—Establishment.—As already noted in the Report for
1913, the pay of some of the sweepers and of the clerk of the Bhowanipur
Lunatic Asylum was raised in that year, and the house and local allowances of
the Sub-Assistant Surgeon of that asylum were suitably increased. A second
Sub-Assistant Surgeon was also appointed in the Berhampore Lunatic Asylum
and a personal allowance of Rs. 100 was sanctioned for the Deputy Superin-
tendent of that asylum in the same year. The revision of the pay of
the keeper staff of this institution referred to in that Report came into effect
from the 1st April of the past year and benefited 8 head male keepers
and 2 head female keepers by Re. 1 each and 60 ordinary male keepers
and 10 female keepers by Rs. 2 each per mensem. I understand that with
these increased rates of pay and the abolition of the rules for taking security
deposits from the keepers at the time of their enlistment and making them
sign declarations as to their antecedents, the difficulty hitherto experienced
in getting the proper stamp of keepers and in inducing them to stick to their
appointments sufficiently long has been considerably reduced.
In the
Dacca Lunatic Asylum, the posts of the Overseer and Sub-Assistant Surgeon
were abolished last year and a combined appointment of Deputy Superin-
tendent and Resident Medical Officer to be held by a Civil Sub-Assistant
Surgeon on grade pay plus a local allowance was created instead. A tem-
porary clerk on a small pay (Rs. 25—30) has also been appointed to help
the Deputy Superintendent in clerical work. The retirement last year of
the late Overseer afforded an opportunity for carrying out the change
which was also necessary in view of the diminished population of the
asylum and its probable eventual closure on the completion of the Ranchi
Lunatic Asylum.
20. Statement X—Manufactures.—The judicious employment of the
inmates of the Indian lunatic asylums on manufactures was continued with
profit to Government and great benefit to the lunatics themselves, the average
number so employed during the triennium having been 100.41 in the Dacca
Lunatic Asylum and 501.13 in the. Berhampore Lunatic Asylum, or 31.04
and 70.36 per cent. of their respective mean population. The inmates of
the latter asylum were employed on various useful industries, e.g., bakery,
carpentry, painting and re-painting of carriages, weaving , durry, carpet
and rug making, cane-work, dairy-farming, making jute strings, oil-press-
ing, gardening, erecting bamboo sheds, making chicks, tailoring, poultry-
farming, pounding soorky, dying thread, grinding gram, making straw-mats,
etc. Some of the educated and improved lunatics were also employed as
clerks, assistant store-keepers, etc. As an incentive to good work and an
inducement to the backward and lazy inmates, rewards were given in the
shape of monthly stipends varying from anna one to Re. 1 which they
appreciated very much. The money is accumulated and is either remitted to
their relatives or spent in purchasing little luxuries such as shoes, slippers,
sweets, etc. A sum of Rs. 347 was spent on this account in the Berhampore
Lunatic Asylum in 1914 against Rs. 362 in 1913. In the Dacca Lunatic
Asylum the chief employment of lunatics consisted of gardening, tailoring,
weaving, spinning, rope-making, cane-work, dairy-farming, washing clothes,
etc.
The average annual profits from manufactures amounted to Rs. 11,939,
during the past year, viz., Rs. 2,240 in the Dacca Lunatic Asylum and