REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1893.
9
The first claim on the produce resulting from the cultivation of its garden
rightly belongs to the Asylum, and outside sales should not take place until this
legitimate demand is satisfied. It may not have been easy to produce through-
out the year a daily supply corresponding to the daily demand ; but the difficulty
is one which can, I think, with a little more attention to detail, be overcome.
In former years there were fairly large sales to the public of flowers grown
in the flower garden of the Asylum, and a substantial sum of money was realized
by the sale of Asylum flowers. It is hard to understand why this pleasure-yield-
ing and profitable industry has been suffered to decline during the last few years.
In the Asylum report for 1890 the Superintendent of the institution refers to the
Asylum grounds in the following terms : They " are well laid out and well kept,
" the walks always clean and tidy, the Deputy Superintendent paying great atten-
" tion to this and the garden, so that the premises have a cheerful appearance."
The aspect of the Asylum grounds at the present time is not calculated to
promote cheerfulness. There are very few flowering shrubs to be found in the
Asylum demesne, while the rose trees have almost entirely disappeared. The
front portion of the garden has been largely denuded of its flowers from their
being transplanted in order to clear the ground for grass plots. While unfortu-
nately but very few of the plants survived the ordeal of transplanting, the grass
plots for which they made way are too small in extent to be either useful or
ornamental. Efforts will be made, as soon as the rains have set in, to resuscitate
Asylum floriculture.
The Asylum dairy.—If the sale of milk obtained from a number of milch
cows entitles the owner to say he has a dairy, then the Asylum possesses a dairy,
but not otherwise, for there is no butter or cheese or other dairy product
manufactured in the Asylum.
At the beginning of the year the Asylum owned 10 cows and nine calves.
One cow and six calves died during the year. Three cows and three calves were
purchased and nine calves were born. One calf has become old enough to be
styled a cow. At the close of the year the Asylum herd numbered 13 cows and
14 calves.
A bull was purchased towards the end of December, but as he remained
unpaid for when the year closed he is omitted from the strength of the herd.
The milk yielded by the Asylum cows during the year was sold for
Rs. 1,543-0-9. Of this sum Rs. 829-4-9 were obtained by the sale of milk to
the public. The remaining amount of Rs. 713-12-0 represents the value of milk
(calculated at the rate at which milk is sold to the public, namely, five bottles for
a rupee) supplied to the Asylum for consumption by the inmates. The practice
formerly followed of drawing money from the Treasury, under the head of rations,
for the milk supplied to the Asylum, and paying it back into the Treasury under
head " Sale of milk " was put a stop to in September last, and since this date the
sale of milk to the Asylum has been adjusted by book transfer.
The net results of this Asylum industry is shown in the following state-
ment :—
Receipts during the year.
Received and paid into the treasury for the sale of milk to the
public
Value of milk supplied to Asylum drawn from and paid back to
Government
Adjusted by book-transfer
Gross receipts
Rs. A.
355
358
9
3
p.
0
0
Rs.
829
713
1,543
A.
4
12
0
p.
9
0
9
Expenditure during the year.
Cost of feeding the cattle ... ... ... ...
Salary of cow-man ... ... ... ...
Purchase of three cows and three calves ... ... ...
Net gain ...
223
180
245
3
0
0
0
0
0
648
894
3
13
0
9
3