No S.B./205 OF 1891
FROM:
THE SURGEON-GENERAL WITH THE
GOVERNMENT OF BOMBAY;
To
THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,
GENERAL DEPARTMENT,
Bombay.
Bombay, 20th March 1891.
SIR,
I have the honour to submit my Administration Report on the Lunatic
Asylums for 1890.
2. The Asylum buildings are all in good repair. At Poona a verandah
is to be added to the female house, which will add to the comfort of the inmates.
At Colaba the old dilapidated bath-rooms for European inmates have been
removed, and new ones are now being built in their place at an estimated cost
of Rs. 1,655, as per Government Resolution No. 325-C. W.—1285, dated 8th July
1890. The cookroom on the European side has been provided with trellis work,
and it has been suggested that a wall should be built in front of the workshop
on the north side, to make it more secure. At Ratnágiri the cooking ranges in
use have been reconstructed and improved. No alterations took place in the
other Asylums.
3. Water-supply is good and abundant. At Colába a new masonry tank,
having a capacity of 10,000 gallons, was opened in the beginning of the year
for the storage of pipe water. It is an improvement on the old arrangement of
the supply of water by water-carts in the hot season, none of which were re-
quired during the year under report. Government Resolution No. 156-C. W.—
623 of 29th March 1889 stipulates that the Ratnágiri Municipality will, on
completion of the repairs to the reservoir, supply a minimum of 3,000 gallons
daily free to the Ratnágiri Asylum. It appears that 1,750 gallons is the maximum
that can for the present be spared, owing to defects in the main which conveys
the water from the source at Náchna causing leakage.
4. The Superintendents of the Asylums, after giving the new diets a
careful trial for a year, have submitted their reports recommending a few trifling
changes in the scales, to suit local conditions, and I have lately submitted a report
recommending that each Asylum should have its own diet, vide this office
No. 1708, dated 13th March 1891.
5. Government in Resolution No. 4336, dated 29th October 1890, sanc-
tioned certain grants to the Asylums for wall decorations, pictures, library
books, newspapers (English and vernacular), games, musical instruments and
other amusements, in order to improve generally the condition of life and
add to the happiness of the inmates of the Asylums. The Superintendents have
spent some money from the grant for the purchase of such articles, and report
that the lunatics fully appreciate these amusements and additional pleasures.
Native musicians are occasionally engaged to play for the inmates.
6. The figures at the end of the report give detailed information on nearly
all subjects connected with the insanes, and I beg to make the following remarks
on these tables :—
Statement No. I shows separately the admissions, discharges, &c., &c. The
total population during the year was 1,006 against 917 in the previous year. Of
these 828 were males and 178 females. There remained on 1st January 1890,
580 males and 134 females, 233 males and 40 females were admitted, and 15
males and 4 females re-admitted during the year. 200 males and 38 females were
discharged. Of these 97 males and 17 females were cured, 100 males and 21
B 1686—1