6
REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1894.
out, which is a constant quantity, nevertheless, whenever loss of weight takes
place, extras are issued. Lunatics receiving extras are classed as convalescents,
and each one has given him, in addition to the ordinary diet of the asylum, a tin
of conjee and a cup of milk in the morning and some soup, bread, and jaggery at
2 P.M.
The number of so-called convalescents in the asylum is generally about 20
per cent. of the population. The list is revised monthly in accordance with the
results of the monthly weighments. The cost of extra diet supplied during the
year to members of the convalescent gang was as under:—
Articles of diet.
Cost
...
Milk.
Rs.
146
A.
0
P.
0
Bread.
Rs.
419
A.
12
P.
0
Beef soup.
Rs.
1.5I7
A.
0
P.
6
Conjee.
Rs.
243
A.
5
P.
4
Jaggery.
Rs.
384
A.
15
P.
2
Total.
Rs.
2,711
A.
1
P.
0
Tobacco, which was formerly given out on Sundays only, is now issued twice
a week ; nevertheless the lunatics recently taken over from the Rangoon Jail
appear, from their own statements, to have been even more liberally dealt with,
and to have had an allowance of tobacco served out to them daily.
35. Labour.—There has not been any notable advance made during the
year either in the nature or scope of the industries carried on within the asylum.
The hope which was expressed last year that marked improvement would be
effected during the year of report has not been realized.
36. The Burmese Assistant Surgeon in subordinate executive charge of the
asylum, who at one time gave promise of becoming a useful and efficient officer,
began early in the year to show he was unfit to hold the position he filled.
Carelessness, negligence, and finally corruption, were brought to his charge and
it became necessary to remove him. So long as the asylum manufactures
depended for development on the exertions of an official who, by his corrupt con-
duct, had forfeited all claims to honesty, no improvement could be expected.
When the Burman Assistant Surgeon was transferred, it was thought prefer-
able to await the arrival of the Assistant Surgeon to be appointed by the Govern-
ment of India rather than employ for a short period a Local Assistant Surgeon,
ignorant of the duties which would devolve upon him. Consequently the asylum
was for a while without a Deputy Superintendent.
In October an epidemic of beriberi broke out among the lunatics, and manu-
factures for a time fell into abeyance. Although the events of the year were not
favourable to industrial undertakings, nevertheless the results obtained, unsatis-
factory as they are, show that the efforts made to comply with the instructions
received to search for profitable employment for the lunatics met with a certain
measure of success.
37. Of the lunatics who are capable of work, the greater number are con-
tinually employed as asylum servants. As heretofore, with the exception of the
two sweepers entertained to maintain cleanliness in the hospital, the lunatics are
their own servants, and furnish gangs for water-drawing, gardening, conservancy,
and road-making. The manufacture of baskets, mats, brooms, rope, coir, for sale
to the public, as well as for use in the asylum, affords employment to a portion
of the insane population, and extra-mural labour, to the extension of which special
efforts were made in the early part of the year, furnishes occupation for others.
The employment extra-murally of a daily average of 12 lunatics throughout
the year, excluding Sundays, has resulted in the payment into the treasury of a
sum of money amounting to Rs. 1,476-6-0. From this has to be deducted the
salaries of the warders employed in guarding the lunatics. The net result is a
profit to Government of Rs. 1,188-6-0.
38. The experiment of introducing weaving into the female enclosure was
not completed during the year of report, but gins and looms were obtained, and
a certain amount of raw cotton was spun into thread. Although, as was pointed
out by Government, such occupations as weaving and spinning are unquestion-