9
higher cost of maintenance and the want of means of giving suitable employ-
ment to them in that institution.
I will now make some remarks on each of our asylums—
COLABA ASYLUM.
Situation.
26. The Colaba Asylum is situated on the west side of the point of that
name ; the whole area of ground belonging to it, in-
clusive of the space occupied by the buildings, mea-
sures under five acres. The ground has an incline towards the sea, and is
nearly all rock, the greenstone trap of which can be seen everywhere crop-
ping up above the surface of the soil. The latter is composed of a red earth,
the result of the decomposition of the greenstone, and a loose calcareous sand
containing decayed marine animals and vegetable matter.
Buildings.
27. The buildings are of two stories, and may be divided into the old
and new. The old consist of a centre block with two
wings, forming three sides of a square; the native
cook-house, store, and bath-room form the fourth, but detached. On the
south-east is a small shed, called the Infirmary. The new buildings are at
right angles, on the east and west sides, to the centre block, and consist of two
blocks—one for females, the other for European males.
Water-supply.
28. The water-supply has always been a source of much trouble and
anxiety on account of its scarcity in the hot weather,
when an abundant supply is most needed. There is
a well which yields a good quantity of water in the rains and a little in the
cold season. This well water can be used only for cleansing the asylum,
washing clothes, and watering the garden. It is too impure for drinking, for
which purpose Vehar water is used. Unfortunately, however, the Vehar water
does not flow to the asylum in the hot weather for want of sufficient pressure,
and then it becomes necessary to obtain it by the expensive and unsatisfac-
tory method of carting it from some distance. During the past year the flow
through the pipes is reported to have ceased altogether as early as the end of
February. The population of the asylum is given at 400, and the supply of
water by carting indented for, was 3,500 gallons daily, but frequently the
Commissariat Department could not give even this small quantity. Up to
the 31st May, the supply averaged only 2,858 gallons daily, and on the 30th
idem it was only 1,794, or about 4 gallons for each resident; but, even if the
indent had been fulfilled, the average supply would be under 9 gallons—a very
small one for even a general and a healthy city population. How insufficient,
then, must it be for a population which is two-thirds insanes. Thus is the
asylum deprived of its greatest necessity, abundance of water as well as of air
and ground, being as essential as food, in the proper treatment of the insane.
Until the Tulsi scheme be carried out, this scarcity of water will be con-
stant in the hot months, unless Government are prepared, by a larger outlay
of money, to meet this great want.
Drainage.
29. All surface drainage is carried to the sea by three drains, but the
sub-soil drainage is not provided for ; all the sub-soil
water drains itself from the higher ground above the
asylum, under it, to the sea. This might be prevented by cross drains ; and as
the fall of rain is very great—70.82 inches last year, and nearly all falls in four
B 223—b