REPORT
ON
THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM
For the year 1891.
From Surgeon-Major P. W. DALZELL, Officiating Inspector-General of Prisons with Civil Medical Adminis-
tration, Burma, to the Junior Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Burma,—No. 1200-80M., dated the
29th February 1892.
I HAVE the honour to forward herewith the Annual Report on the Rangoon
Lunatic Asylum. The Superintendent's report on which it has been based was
circulated among the Committee of Visitors as directed in the Chief Commis-
sioner's Resolution on the previous year's report, and was approved by them.
To this fact principally is due the delay in its submission.
Annual Report of the Rangoon Lunatic Asylum for the year 1891.
Situation and Buildings.—A porch has been built in front of the hospital
cottage to protect the carriages of visitors from sun and rain.
One of the cottages for females has been divided by a partition in order that
privacy may be secured for Europeans and Eurasians who may be detained. With
these exceptions no alteration has been made in the building of the asylum.
The wall surrounding the enclosure for females is not only too low, but is in
such a defective state that it offers no serious obstacle to escape. This matter
was commented on by the Committee of Visitors which met on the 29th April
in the following terms :—
" The visitors are of opinion that the wall of the female enclosure should be raised to
the height of 9 feet, as there is nothing now to prevent free passage to and fro."
The row of cells in the enclosure for criminals requires to be protected on
the south-west face by a verandah. During the monsoon the wind drifts the rain
into the cells and renders the flooring wet; this inconvenience is in some cases
aggravated by the defective level of the flooring.
A verandah 8 or 10 feet in width with a sloping roof of corrugated iron would
not only prevent the rain being blown in, but would be a useful shelter.
The walls of the enclosure for criminals require repairing and plastering.
The Chairman of the Committee of Visitors recorded the following remarks on
this subject on the 1st July:—
" I note that the wall of the criminal portion of the asylum is in a bad condition.
The plaster has dropped off, exposing layers of bricks, which form a succession of steps to
the top of the wall. Escape would be a matter of ease as far as this wall is concerned.
The whole wall requires overhauling."
The cook-room is too small and it is moreover ill-ventilated.
The wooden cottages begin to show signs of the effects of time. They should
be thoroughly examined by the Executive Engineer in order to determine how
much longer they may be expected to last, and whether it would not be an
advantage, when the time comes, to substitute brick buildings. A padded room
is required, but if this is provided the substance used in padding will have to be
carefully selected, so that it might not prove attractive to white-ants.
On the civil side of the asylum there has been no overcrowding, but the
number of criminal lunatics continues to be in excess of the accommodation.
Under the new rules for the release of recovered criminal lunatics a certain
number will soon be set at liberty and, in the meantime, to prevent overcrowding,
criminal lunatics are being sent to the Rangoon Central Jail. When the new
asylum is opened at Mandalay there will be ample accommodation in the province.
In the criminal enclosure there are only 76 cells and there are 86 male
criminal lunatics. Ten of the most harmless are locked up at night in one of
the cottages.