DULLUNDA LUNATIC ASYLUM.
29
Government. They afford, however, accommodation enough, if it be, as I hope it may be,
determined to confine the population of the asylum within much narrower limits.
Some works of construction which were required have been effected from the industrial
funds without cost to Government. Their value, as estimated by the Public Works Depart-
ment, is Rs. 2,500-8-0.
General manage-
ment.
Mechanical
re-
straint.
12. General treatment and management.—The remedial practice of the asylum is well
known in all its details to the Inspector-General. If a separate record had been kept of
persons confined in the rooms, or restrained in the gentle and beneficial manner before
reported, it would be found that the number was larger than in former years. The occurrence
of accidents and injuries was among the more obvious evils of increasing numbers, and growing
experience of the use of woollen bags in violent phrenzy leaves no doubt that a very mischievous
or troublesome lunatic is much safer alone in a room than in the custody of a native warder
outside, and that a maniac dangerous to himself fares much worse under the manual efforts
of such a person than he does when lying in a loose soft bag on a comfortable stretcher in
an open verandah.
The industrial sys-
tem ; develope-
ment and results.
Of the industrial system it may now be reported that it is complete enough to admit of
the labour being turned to the full advantage of Government, and applied to the clothing and
feeding of the lunatics. It has been the work of twelve years to accomplish this. A large
swamp has been converted into an ornamental and productive garden, which furnishes
vegetables in abundance, and has commenced to produce the best kinds of fruit, both for
use and for sale. Oil and soorkey making, spinning and weaving, and an infinite variety of
industries, introduced as opportunity and advantage dictated, and changed when no longer
useful, have produced large sums of money, which have been devoted to improving and
advancing the system. The tanks, the large drains, the numerous expensive buildings, and
the good stock of machinery and appliances, are the return which the institution is now
able to make to the Government for the profits of the labour hitherto surrendered by the state,
that they might be applied to the comfort and advantage of the inmates. The object of that
concession will have been fully accomplished if it be acknowledged that to sleep in good
houses, to be well clothed and fed, and to be trained to work, which is by its quantity only
healthy exercise, is a better thing than to be confined within small walled enclosures night
and day, without recreation or employment, or any attempt at conformity with, or restoration
to, the habits of rational life.
Thus, without cost to Government, property of large value has been collected, and a
prison-like group of barrack ranges has been converted into the semblance of pleasant
garden-houses, while a disorderly herd of idle and turbulent mad men has given place to an
industrious population, usefully, healthily, and profitably employed, among whom the cases
which formerly composed the mass are now the exceptions, which in greater or smaller
numbers must always be found in a community made up of such material, and whose vagaries
cannot be felt as a reproach to an establishment, so long as they are attributable to no
removable or remediable defect.
Finances.
13. Expenditure.—The total cost of the asylum during the year was Rs. 29,899,
against Rs. 28,402 in 1870. The increase was solely in the diet bills, all other items of
charge showing reduction. The cost per patient was Rs. 89-3-7, against Rs. 91-14-0.
Increase of numbers account for much of the excess in diet charge. The sum of Rs. 910-8-6
was paid into the treasury or deducted from the monthly contingent bills on account of
payments by friends of patients for maintenance.
The reduced charge for establishment is due to the fact that during a part of the year
the salary of the overseer was drawn in the European asylum, and the smaller salary of his
substitute only in this.
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DULLUNDA,
The 6th May 1872.
H