The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-12 00:00:00

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involving the outlay of a great many thousands
of pounds—no resolute removal of old stumbling-
blocks—no determination to vindicate the
character of the Bench as clear-headed, ener-
getic men of business, upon a question by which
any such reputation is at length, as it would
seem, very seriously compromised. We allude, of
course, to the fatal business of the County Lunatic
Asylum. Not only are the worst features of this
case perpetuated in a still more aggravated
form, but, as if those stubborn evils were not
enough, negligence of public duty and an illegal
imposition of the fiscal burdens of the county
have come to be auperadded, and are charges
of which the magistrates themselves stand self-
convicted. In this simple form of expression,
applied to the facts, there would appear to be
something comprehended of a very grave and
disastrous character; but, however that may be,
our readers will be relieved from any superfluous
alarm, when we inform them that the unreserved
confession of these faults of omission and com-
mission was made with the utmost good temper
and suavity, occasioning not the slightest pos-
sible perturbation of mind, and eliciting the
blandest and most complaisant assurance of
"better behaviour for the future." Whether,
under all the circumstances, the county will be
disposed to share to any great extent in this
singular nonchalance and equanimity, may be
said to be at least doubtful.

The discussion of the affairs of the Lunatic
Asylum was introduced by the reading of a
somewhat lengthy correspondence between the
Rev. Mr. TEMPLER, the Chairman of the
Visiting Justices of the Asylum, and the Com-
missioners in Lunacy. That correspondence will
bear very attentive reading, and when taken in
connection with Mr. TEMPLER'S oral remarks
upon it, will furnish a specimen of perspicacity
and intelligence of which the county of Dorset
is certainly in no danger of becoming inordi-
nately proneL--The—honvar of conducting this -
notable correspondence belongs exclusively to
Mr. TEMPLES.. He was confessedly acting alone,
without the remotest chance of being interfered
with by any of his colleagues, who appear to
have determined, in the most generous spirit,
that Mr. TEMPLER should be left to enjoy the
undivided distinction which he has acquired by
his management of these affairs.
The responsibility involved in this business is
thus seen to belong entirely to Mr. TEMPLES.;
and in directing the attention of the county to
the matter—in the discharge of our duty—we
shall run no risk of being thought to have gone
out of our way in fixing an individual with the
honour or otherwise attendant upon these under-
takings. In the correspondence referred to are
four letters, two from the Commissioners and
two from Mr. TEMPLES; and we will venture to
say that a more striking instance of "confusion
worse confounded," in all the depositories sacred
to the memory of red tape and circumlocution,
is no where to be found, than in the official
correspondence of the Chairman of the Visit-
ing Magistrates of the Dorset County Luna-
tic Asylum. The letter of the Commis-
sioners, dated the Ist December, 1857,
merely reiterates opinions which they say had
already been formally adverted to and discussed,
and concludes with a desire to be informed upon
what grounds the sums proposed to be paid to
Mr. STURT and Mr. SHERIDAN, if exceeding the
usual rate for land, had been decided upon. In
reply to this letter a communication is forwarded
by Mr. BROWN, the clerk to the Visitors, who
states that the Commissioners' letter had been
"submitted to the Chairman of the Visitors,
"by whom he was directed to reply thereto."
And a very elaborate and pains-taking specimen
of rigmarole is the result. The first half dozen
paragraphs are devoted to the profitable task of
advising the Commissioners as to a variety of
points upon which Mr. BROWN acknowledges
they are already informed; and the rest of the let-
ter fights with difficulties, and struggles with
misconceptions, which are those of Mr. TEMPLER'S
own creation; and then, with the most placid
resignation, he declares that "under these circum-
stances" the Visitors have come to a dead lock—
that they can proceed no further until the Com-
missioners state positively what they will require
"upon the two points, viz., the number of acres
"and the detached buildings." The Commis-
sioners, in their rejoinder of the 23rd of
December, almost worn out with a futile
and wandering discussion with this rep-
resentative of the county interests, are
apparently well pleased to find that the questions
at issue are at length narrowed to the "two points"
just mentioned. In reference to the quantity of
land, they say plainly, that they will not obstruct
the sanction of the SECRETARY of STATE to the
limited area of 35 acres proposed by Mr.
TEMPLES, instead of a more extended site which
the Commissioners have all along thought de-
sirable. As to the second point—the detached and
auxiliary buildings, the Commissioners insist
upon the adoption of that plan, as most econo-
mical and efficient; and they tell Mr. TEMPLER
that he is entirely mistaken in supposing
that those auxiliary buildings would necessitate
either the "considerable outlay of money," or
the "serious alteration of the present build-
" ings," which he seems to apprehend in his letter
of the 11th December. What the Commissioners
say on this point is so important, and shows on
the part of strangers an honest solicitude to save
the pockets of the ratepayers, with a proper
regard for the interests of the poor patients
themselves—contrasting so strongly with the
disposition and conduct of those local authorities
to whose hands these matters are specially con-
fided—that we are bound to call particular atten-
tion to the following concluding passages of the
letter referred to :

if The suggestion [to construct cheap additional build-
ings] had referenee particularly to that portion of the
patients who are habitually and regularly employed
upon the farm, or in the wash-houses; and it originated
in the conviction of the Commissioners that a very
simple and inexpensive description of accommodation
would suffice for this class of lunatics. And they still
too strongly feel this not again to impress upon the
Visitors the expediency of keeping it in view in design.
lug the plans for the enlargement of the asylum. The
detached buildings should be provided in connection
with the coach-house on the female side, and in prox-
imity to the farm on the men's aide; and it occurs to the
Commissioners that a great saving might be effected by
rendering available for this purpose the farm-house,
dairy-house, and stables now existing on the proposed
site, instead of removing altogether those erections, as
would appear to be the intention of the Visitors."

Now, observe the manner and the spirit in
which Mr. TEMPLER thinks it consistent with his
duty, and the sense of the thing, to reply to
these sensible and deliberate suggestions. He
tells the Commissioners (of whom Lord BRAD-
TESBURY if the Chairman, and ROBERT GORDON,
Esq., an old and active colleague), that they are
without any data upon which to form "a correct
conclusion," and that a proper comprehen-
sion of the matter is only to be arrived
at by Bonding down somebody "to visit one if
"not all of the places mentioned." He declares
that the "Asylum is Made:mate even for the
"present numbers, and wholly so for any on-
"largement"—a process of reasoning which Mr.
TEMPLER may be able to reconcile, but which
moat other persona would give up in despair.
He states in opposition to the Commissioners'
plan, that
"The kitchen, larders, board-room, store-room, laundry,
wash-house, baths, washing-rooms, attendants' apart-
ments--in short, every sooommodetion that an Asylum
requires moat be new; and more than all, a chapel, of
which at present we have none, and the patients go to
the neighbouring churches. Now, if all these accommo-
dations are to be provided in each of these separate
buildings, I do not see in what they differ from tiro luna-
tic asylums in which separate complete establishmente
would be required, and I cannot conceive that such
buildings could be erected for 25 pauper patients or even
for 50; and I should think that the enlargement of our
present Asylum can be effected cheaper than these small
separate asylums."

There iIS only one thing, as our readers will
sperceive, clear and intelligible in the above