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in spite of misgivings," elsewhere, that 165 out of 207 lunatics had been con-
stantly employed throughout the year, and the value of the work done by them
was estimated at Rs. 6,160. The sole object for which regular and systematic
work was introduced was the physical welfare and mental discipline of the
patients, and it was shown that the work had had a good, instead of a bad, effect
upon the lunatics. Twenty-four deaths occurred among the 165 employed per-
sons, and 27 among the 44 who were unemployed. The sums realized were with
the consent of Government devoted to the improvement of the asylum and its
grounds, and of the general comfort of the unfortunate inmates. The system
thus inaugurated has made steady progress, and out of the profits of the labour
fund the asylum has lost its original prison-like features; has supplied itself
with extensive and expensive work-rooms and store-rooms, tanks and baths
and arbours, a model dead-house and refectory and the most perfect
cooking arrangements in any Indian institution known to the Committee.
Its industrial system has been the model followed in all the provincial
asylums and its cooking and latrine arrangements have been extensively
adopted in institutions of other kinds. Up to 1872 the labour funds remained
at the absolute discretion of the Superintendents, who carried out such
improvements as they thought best in their own way. The majority of those
mentioned had already been completed at Dullunda, where work was introduced
earlier than elsewhere ; but in the younger asylums no great progress had been
made. In that year a material change was made in the whole system of accounts.
A Committee appointed by Sir George Campbell recommended that all money
received should be paid into, and all money spent be drawn from, the treasury,
and that all expenditure should be regularly budgeted for. The discretionary
power of Superintendents was abolished, except within a limit of Rs. 200 on
manufacturing account, and the sanction of Government had to be obtained for
all future improvements. The change, although no doubt a wise measure in
many ways, was an unfortunate one for the asylums, for the period of financial
pressure which followed put a stop to many improvements still incomplete.
This system is still in force. It has the advantage of showing the accounts of
individual asylums with almost absolute exactness as to their total and net cost
to Government, and it prevents unsanctioned expenditure. The accounts show
on the credit side cash received for sales, the value of articles supplied for asylum
use, the value of raw material and manufactured articles in stock, and of the
machinery and plant at the end of the year. On the debit side is the amount
spent in the purchase of raw material, on manufacture buildings, tools, &c.,
and the value of raw materials, manufactured articles, plant and machinery
at the beginning of the year. Ten per cent. is allowed for depreciation of
machinery, and a balance of the two accounts shows the actual profit or
loss on the year's transactions so far as Government is concerned. Vouchers
are duly furnished for every item on each side of the account, and the amount of
the profits is deducted from the general expenditure of the asylum in calculating
the net cost of the institution and of each patient. As the transactions of
each year are complete, the figures give with perfect arithmetical precision the
net and gross cost to Government of each institution for each year.
It is obvious, however, that from such figures no correct inferences can be
drawn as to the relative merit of different institutions, or as to their respective
success in manufactures. The sums shown in the accounts as " profits"
represent correctly the excess of receipts over expenditure on account of
manufacture during the particular year, but in no sense represent the asylum
profits for that year. If, on the 31st of December, an asylum has a thousand
rupees worth of manufactured goods more than it had on the 1st of January,
it is clear that its manufacturing profits are a thousand rupees more than the
admitted profits; and although this sum is rightly excluded from the Govern-
ment account, since Government has not yet been credited with it, it is clear
that it must be taken into account in comparing the industrial accounts of one
asylum with those of another. If an asylum has managed to pay for extensive
work-sheds or elaborate machinery out of its manufacture receipts, it is evident
that, though the money is not gained to Government, since it has been spent,
it has been gained by the asylum and should be allowed for in estimating the
value of work done, as compared with other asylums which may have spent
nothing on similar items. It has already been shown that Dacca Asylum sells