3. The causes of the high mortality were considered by a Committee of the Visitors
of the Asylum held on the 30th November last, at which the Deputy Commissioner of
the district and the Superintendent of the Asylum were present, and the remarks
reproduced in paragraph 18 of the Report were recorded in explanation, of the high death-
rate generally in this Asylum. The substance of these remarks is that the mortality in
this Asylum cannot fairly be compared with the mortality in Asylums in other Provinces,
as so large a proportion of the inmates consists of destitute and homeless immigrants,
who are in a bad state of health when first admitted to the Asylum. The Chief Com-
missioner is prepared to admit that the view of the Committee is correct to a great
extent, and that the death-rate at Tezpur must, for the reasons stated, always be
expected to be somewhat higher than the death-rate in other Asylums. But as shown
above, this explanation does not fully account for the high mortality, and there are
also certain preventible causes of sickness which have to be remedied.
4. The practice of sending sick inmates to the Charitable Dispensary for treatment
instead of treating them in the hospital attached to the -Asylum was referred to in the
Resolution reviewing the Report for 1893. This practice has been discontinued under
the Chief Commissioner's orders. The Chief Commissioner now observes that the
Superintendent reports that sick inmates are retained in the Asylum very often after
they have been quite restored in mind, and that two patients were transferred during the
year from the Charitable Dispensary, which was overcrowded at the time, to the Asylum
for treatment. It is not stated whether these two patients were insane or not.
The Chief Commissioner sees no reason why inmates who are quite restored in mind
should be retained at the Asylum, and he would prefer that, whenever practicable,
they should be discharged from the Asylum and senc to the Charitable Dispensary for
treatment. It is further obviously objectionable that patients in the Charitable Dispen-
sary suffering from purely physical ailments should be sent to the Asylum hospital.
The Principal Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner should issue instructions
to <*ive effect to these views. The question of overcrowding at the Tezpur Charitable
Dispensary is being separately dealt with in connection with the Annual Report on
Dispensaries.
5. The Report contains no account of the occupation of the lunatics. In future
reports it should be stated in what way they are employed, and to what extent it has
been found possible to employ them under shelter, as suggested by the Government
of India on more than one occasion. At his inspection of the Asylum in December last*
however the Chief Commissioner ascertained that not much progress had been made in
this direction, great difficulty having been experienced in giving lunatics employment
under shelter without putting dangerous implements into their hands.
6. The Chief Commissioner at his inspection was well satisfied with the arrange-
ments at the Asylum ; and although he has had to criticise the Report in respect
of the points dealt with in the preceding paragraphs, he endorses the opinion of the
Principal Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner that the good condition of the
institution, as a whole, reflects credit on the management of the Superintendent, Surgeon-
Major Macnamara.
By order of the Chief Commissioner of Assam,
P. G. MELITUS,
.Secretary to the Chief Commissioner 0/ Assam.
A. S. P. O. (Judl.) No. 113—130—21-5-95-