6
once by the Commissioner, Assam Valley Districts. His Honour the Lieutenant-
Governor of Eastern Bengal and Assam inspected it twice during the triennium.
Twenty-four meetings of the committee of visitors were held at Tezpur during the
last three years and at Dacca the visitors met monthly.
General remarks.
9. There wasa steady increase in the number of new admissions into the asylums
during the triennium. The accommodation in both the
asylums is insufficient. Certain improvements and altera-
tions in the Tezpur Asylum were kept in abeyance owing to the proposed establishment
of a central asylum for the province. In view of the redistribution of the province
nothing now will come of this proposal and steps should be taken to carry out step by
step the proposed improvements in the Tezpur Asylum, some of which are urgently
required. All thatched roofs both inside and outside the asylum should be done away
with and the buildings should be made pucca and pucca walls should be built round
the enclosures. The mortality rate was a little higher and was due to a number of
deaths from tuberculosis and an epidemic of cholera in the Dacca Asylum. The mor-
tality from tuberculosis has fallen considerably at Dacca since the erection of a sepa-
rate tubercle ward and it is hoped that Tezpur will show the same result when it is
provided with a tubercle ward. In both asylums lunatics are usefully employed and
the work is distributed with discrimination. They are treated sympathetically, well
fed and clothed. As in previous years amusements such as pujas, theatricals, nautches,
gramophone recitals and magic lantern entertainments were provided. Sweets and
fruits were distributed, extra diet, pan and tobacco were given as rewards for hard
work and good conduct. Newspapers and books are supplied and appreciated by those
who are able to read and write. At Dacca a sum of Rs. 293-10-9 was expended on
amusements in 1909 from the Nawab of Dacca's entertainment funds. The amounts
spent from this fund in 1910 and 1911 were Rs. 289-5-6 and Rs. 279-6-6, respec-
tively. Both asylums maintain registers of solitary confinement and mechanical res-
traint which are produced at each meeting of the visitors of the asylum. No case of
unnecessary or undue subjection to solitary confinement or mechanical restraint has
been reported.
My thanks are due to Lieutenant-Colonel Hall and Major MacLeod for the zeal
and interest evinced in the discharge of their duties as Superintendents of the Dacca
Asylum and to Lieutenant-Colonel Wood and Major Leventon for all the care and
attention devoted to the asylum at Tezpur during the periods they held charge of the
institution. At Dacca the Overseer Babu Ramesh Chandra Sil, a veteran officer, and
at Tezpur the Deputy Superintendent, Rai Shahib Giris Chandra Das, have maintained
their reputation for zeal and efficiency. Government has been pleased to confer upon
the latter the title of Rai Shahib in appreciation of his excellent work. His designa-
tion has also been changed from Overseer to Deputy Superintendent of the Asylum.
I am also obliged to my second clerk Babu Sarat Chandra Deb, B.A., for the
intelligence and energy he has displayed in getting out this report and the statistics
appended to it a month earlier than it is due.
DACCA;
The 9th March 1912.
B. NEIL CAMPBELL,
COLONEL, I.M.S.,
Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals,
Eastern Bengal and Assam.