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Between August and the end of the year a large number of lunatics were daily engaged
in levelling, and in filling up the wells and cess-pools in the new ground which has been added
on to the old garden. By the beginning of December this land, which embraces 2½ acres,
was all under cultivation, and a most productive kitchen-garden it made. This change was
accomplished by lunatic labour alone. Several of the lunatics have become good gardeners,
and the open air work has already had a beneficial effect on the health of those so engaged.
Nautches have been regularly held every fortnight during the year. They are looked for-
ward to with great eagerness. With proper supervision there is no risk of their becoming
prejudicial to the lunatics. In the long evenings of the cold season any amusement which
breaks in upon the monotonous life of the inmates must have a beneficial influence on their
mental condition.
Payment of the main-
tenance of lunatics.
The want of any national game in which young and old can participate is a great draw-
back in India to the treatment of lunatics. During 1868 the sum
of Rs. 95-4-0 has been received and credited to Government. From
the Rajah of Cooch Behar Rs. 65-12-0 were sent for the maintenance
of lunatics belonging to his territory. The man who was admitted for the seventh time,
voluntarily paid Rs. 21 for the expenses of his subsistence while in confinement. The re-
mainder, Rs. 8-8-0, was recovered by the Magistrate of Backergunge from the estate of a rich
Talookdar of that district.
It is only in exceptional cases that the expenses of the lunatic can be realized. The
classes who furnish the majority of the inmates of Asylums are poor, and are unable to support
the family, as well as to defray the expenses of the lunatic.
Sanitary state of the
Asylum.
In April the Executive Engineer commenced to construct a large new ward with 20
cells, which will be capable of accommodating 40 female lunatics.
Owing to the want of materials, this building has been advancing
slowly, and at the end of the year it had only been raised above the level of the ground.
The alterations in the doors and flooring of the solitary cells have also been delayed, and
at the end of the year only seven had been finished. These cells, with their ornamental iron
doors and asphalt flooring, will be healthy quarters when compared with the old badly
ventilated apartments which they supersede.
The accommodation for the male lunatics has been very inadequate during the year. At
the time cholera was at its worst, many of the dormitories were dangerously crowded. On re-
ducing the numbers to a safe standard, it was found that 100 were without any accommodation,
and it was necessary to place them at night in the verandah, where they were exposed to cold
and damp night air. The better health enjoyed by the lunatics after the Jail Hospital was
given up to them, shows that one of the chief wants in this Asylum is sufficient room for the
inmates. As the new buildings are completed, and the altered cells become available, the mor-
tality among the lunatics will in every likelihood be reduced, and the Asylum become a com¬
fortable and healthy residence for the insane population of Eastern Bengal. It certainly
cannot be said to have been so in the past. While the criminals of the country have been
provided with good quarters, the unfortunate lunatic, whose charge Government has acknow-
ledged to be a State duty, has been crowded into cells half the size of that allotted to the
criminal, or into wards where one third of the number ought to be confined.
This neglect is at present being made up for, and even now in this Asylum several of the
wards are airy, clean, and favorable to health.
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