ANNUAL REPORT ON LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
7
(16) Officers in charge.—Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. Leapingwell was
in charge of the Vizagapatam Asylum for nine months of the year; for the other
three months Surgeon-Major Sarkies officiated for him while he was on privilege
leave.
Surgeon-Major Elcum was in charge of the Madras Asylum up to 9th March
1895, when Surgeon-Cap tain L. Palk took over and continued in charge until the
end of the year.
Surgeon-Major St. Clare Carruthers was in charge of the Calicut Asylum until
the 28th October 1895, when Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Hacket Wilkins took
over and coutinued in charge until the end of the year.
3. Accommodation.—There was no overcrowding in any of the asylums
during the year. In the last year's report accommodation was said to exist in the
Vizagapatam Asylum for 68 patients. Some single rooms and the hospital accom-
modation were not included in this, but including these there is accommodation for
75 males and 16 females.
In the Madras Asylum the accommodation for criminal lunatics was reduced
by the utilization of a general block for the purpose of cleaning grain. Government
lias sanctioned the erection of a new block for increasing the accommodation for
criminal lunatics. The Superintendent recommends that provision be made for
special quarters for at least four male and two female paying patients. He has
been directed to submit his reasons in full for this proposal. The accommodation
in the Calicut Asylum was ample.
4. Buildings.—Repairs executed (a).—No repairs were executed in the Vizaga-
patam and Calicut Asylums except the annual minor repairs such as whitewashing,
&c. In the Madras Asylum general repairs were executed to all the buildings in the
asylum at a cost of Its. 4,288. The floor of the kitchen court yard was newly laid
with granite slabs and some petty repairs to service pipes and leaky roofs were made.
(b) State of repair.—In Madras the buildings are in a good state of repair
except that the asphalte flooring in many places is cracked and difficult to clean;
the worst wards have been relaid in Portland cement. In the Vizagapatam and
Calicut Asylums many repairs are required, but they are not undertaken pending
the disposal by Government of the question of abolition of these two asylums.
(c) Neiv constructions.—In the Vizagapatam Asylum there was none. In the
Madras Asylum two blocks of sixteen single rooms have been remodelled to such
an extent as to justify its being classed as a new construction; a new wall has been
built enclosing the female hospital, portion of the fuel godown was converted into
a store-room for furniture, a permanent building for a carpenter's shop was erected,
the walls of the latrines in the native attendants' quarters were rebuilt, and
number boards affixed to all the buildings in the asylum. In the Calicut Asylum
the iron grating over the wells commenced in the year 1894 was completed, and
drains to the hospital ward and to the shed for refractory females were constructed.
5. Sanitation.—Conservancy (a).—In the Vizagapatam Asylum the dry-earth
system was carried out. The day latrines (four in number) are used only during
the monsoon, at other times a trench is used instead.
In the Madras Asylum the Superintendent again points out this year- the
difficulty he had in managing the work of the toties. There was a general
strike amongst this class of servants which, the Superintendent, reports completely
paralised the conservancy arrangements. The Government was addressed on this
subject and in its Order No. 874, Judicial, dated 26th April 1895, directed that
good-conduct pay of Re. 1 a month to be given to each man. Their working
after the introduction of this has already been reported upon undor general adminis-
tration. The latrine accommodation was ample and the dry-earth system was
carried out throughout the year. In the Calicut Asylum in addition to the already
existing staff of three male and two female toties a fourth male toty was appointed
in accordance with the sanction given in G.O., No. 811, Judicial, dated 24th August
1895. Both tho dry-earth and flushing systems were carried on in the general
latrines.