The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-03-08

follows and was discharged
Hon. A. S. Humphreys, First Judge.
Circuit Court, First Judicial District,
Territory of Hawaii
Sir;-The Grand Jury empanelled and
sworn before you on the 4th of Feb
ruary current have concluded their
duties and beg to render the following
final report:
Fifty-five cases have been brought
before this jury by the Attorney Cen
erals Department resulting in the
finding of true bills in thirty-one cases,
no action taken in two cases, and no
bills in twenty-five cases as shown by
the clerks record of our proceedings
marked Exhibit d. and attached
hereto.
We have made investigation in ac-
cordance with your honor's charge, as
the following will show:
INSANE ASYLUM.
The Grand Jury have visited the In
Stitution and inspected the entire prem
ises and the buildings in use. The total
number of patients at the present time
in the asylum is 1870.
The building known as Ward No. 2,
is in a very bad condition and quite
beyond repair The other buildings are
in a fair condition. although Ward 6 is
building erected for some other pur-
pose, but pressed into service owing to
The water-closet accommodations at
the asylum are Of the most primitive
order, being nothing more o.. less than
old fashioned privies with open vaults.
and it may be said in passing that If
the authorities would exercise the same
care in this respect that they exact
from individuals and tax payers as to
sanitary plumbing, no comment would
be necessary.
The Grand Jury ascertain that an ap-
preparation of $4,000 was made by the
Council of State in the early part of
1900 from current funds, for new build
ings at the asylum, and if this AMOUNT
were available, adequate quarters
could be provided in frame structures,
but unfortunately the funds of the
reason of the plague and other causes.
that no funds are available for this
purpose.
At the present time the woman's
ward is made to accommodate thirty
one persons, while there are rooms for
but nineteen, hence the necessity of
putting two patients in one room.
which is most undesirable.
The woman's ward should also have
facilities for washing clothes. All or
the wards should be fitted with some
automatic device whereby all the cells
or rooms can be thrown open at once
in case of fire. This can now be done
in the woman's ward, but IN none of
the others.
The Grand Jury specially condemn
and severely criticize the action of the
authorities in establishing the stone
blasting and crushing plant within say
100 yards of the asylum building, and
upon land set aside as the asylum res
ervation, and it seems strange and re-
markable that whoever is responsible
for selecting this location for the pur-
pose named, did not Immediately see
h.. ,nx-f ,lES,i raH ls. ffNr
the unfortunate inmates of the asylum.
The Grand Jury believe it Is gener-
ally an accepted fact that what is most
needed by the insane is absolute rest
and quiet. and this jury can testify
that the continual roar or the stone
crusher is most trying 0asting as it
does through the entire day. to the or
binary person, while the blasting that
is done at intervals is always startling
and must be terrifying to persons suf-
fering from alterations of the mind.
In our opinion the stone crushing
plant should be peremptorily removed
from the vicinity, even at a large cost
and much trouble, as We believe that
the unfortunates Of the asylum are en-
titled to every possible chance, facility
lieve is denied them in a large measure
so long as the roar of the stone crush
er and explosions in blasting are con-
tinued in the immediate vicinity.
This Grand Jury believe that more
recoveries would be made We're the
Government to employ a resident ply
sician. a specialist if possible, whose
entire time could be given to the study
and treatment of the inmates of the
asylum. This belief is founded on the
fact that all State and Territorial
asylums have a resident physician, and
as being logical argument. Much would
depend upon the person selected to fill
such position. DR.. Herbert's admin
istration of Superintendent of the Asy.
lum is most efficient and praIseworthy,
and it could easily be possible 70 have
n resident" less satisfactory in re-
suits and management than the pres
ent non-r resident superintendent.
1t is true that with the class of in
mates to be and at present handled at
the asylum, the physician IN charge
is handicapped as compared with the
institutions of the kind elsewhere in
the United States. Antecedents, FAM
lily history and the questions of hered-
ity are facts absolutely unascertain-
able in 80 per cent of the people who
inmate our asylum-a cosmopolitan
throng of unfortunates unknown to
any one up to the day they come up to
claim public wafdship on account of
their deplorable condition, many of
whom are unable to make themselves
understood in English.
The Grand Jury believe and recon-
mend that there should be halfway
station between the committing mag
istrate and the wards OF the asylum,
and heartily concur in the recommen-
dation of the Superintendent, DR.. Her
bert, that a receiving-house be estab-
lished where new corners can be held
in probation until 1t is established be-
yond doubt that the person Is indeed
insane before being subjected TO the
strain of surroundings in the asylum
itself There Is ample room. and sum
GENTLY remote, on the asylum reserva-
tion for such a receiving station
The system of records. the care OF
patients, cleanliness of both wards and
cooking department. are all matters
which this Grand Jury can recon-
mend as being well conducted at the
ASYLUM.
What is absolutely needed is:
% A new ward in place of the pres
ent wards and g.
(2) Sanitary plumbing in closets and