PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
FELELT C.O.885
TIT
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Despatches,
Aug. 7 and 17, 1863.
Despatch,
June 22, 1863.
Despatch,
Feb. 16, 1863, Despatch,
May 27, 1963.
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There is a parochial Pauper asylum, with about eight lunatic berths, supported by parochial funds, which is in a very bad state and destitute of any artificial sewerage or drainage, and of baths and lavatories. The latrines are very primitive." There is no sufficient ventilation. The patients are employed in menial services. Restraint is said to be very rare, but is unre- corded. The parish doctor visits when summoned by the keeper, and the Colonial Surgeon occasionally, "Neither register nor records are kept," and the Governor never visits. There is no information on several importanţ points.
83. Cape of Good Hope.-(1.), The Somerset hospital at Cape Town appears to be in a satisfactory condition, except as regards visitation.
(2.) The Albany hospital at Graham's Town is in part an asylum for aged paupers. The government is vested in a committee of management, members of which visit and report frequently. Under the present system a resident lay-superintendent is the immediate manager, and there are two It is non-resident visiting doctors, with honorary salaries of 251. per annum. to be desired that greater powers and direct control over the whole establish- ment should be given, with an increased salary, if necessary, to one of these. A proper outfall should also be substituted for the cesspools into which the sewage at present flows.
(3.) The hospital at Port Elizabeth is sanitarily very imperfect. There is no drainage, and no proper baths. The latrines and the ventilation are A similar transfer very
bad. There are two non-resident medical officers.
of powers and responsibility to one of these is here also desirable.
(4.) The lunatic asylum at Robben Island is in a very bad state, with much contemplation of improvements, for some of which funds were granted in the last session. It is under the management of a surgeon-superintendent, who acts under rules laid down by the Governor. The present rules were framed at a time when the asylum was much smaller than it now is, and require alteration.
The sewerage, drainage, latrines, water-supply, lavatories, and baths have been, and indeed, even at the present time, still appear to be, bad and defective in the extreme. The space allowed to each patient is, from over- crowding, only 500 cubic feet, and there are no day-rooms. There is no system of subordination amongst the attendants, who seem to have been left to perform their duties in their own way, without check or supervision. These defects indeed are all said to be in course of being remedied, but there are others which equally demand immediate reform. The patients are employed in menial services, and frequently subjected to mechanical restraint on frivolous grounds for being foolish in manner and action," or for attempts to escape. The only regular visits are those of the General Medical Committee. There are no proper records or returns of the grounds of detention or circum. stances of admission of the patients, and complaints are made that they are not admitted directly to the asylum, but are sent, in the first place, to Somerset hospital, whence the certificates are seldom forwarded to Robben Island, so that there are no securities against improper confinement.
86. Natal. The Grey's hospital is also a lunatic asylum and a poor asylum. There is no artificial sewerage or drainage. The arrangement of the building, which consist of wards opening from both sides into a central passage, is very strongly objected to by the physician as preventing ventilation, and tending only to diffuse miasma, especially as the passage is bent at the ends by being continued through the wings. There is one non-resident There are до doctor, whose powers and responsibility are not described. regular visits, and none but an annual report.
In the Durban hospital no fault appears, except that each patient has only 700 cubic feet of space, and that there is no system of visitation. The doctor is non-resident.
87. Heligoland. There is no hospital or asylum in Heligoland.
88. Gibraltar. The condition of the Civil hospital of Gibraltar is very unsatisfactory. The drains are too small, ineffective, and very offensive; the latrines very badly constructed and ill-placed. There is nothing in the nature of a lavatory, except some tubs in an open yard. The smell of the kitchen diffuses itself over the building. Of the wards, the 6th Catholic, the 3rd Hebrew, the 5th and 6th Protestant, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Female
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Venereal, are by much too small and overcrowded. The 5th Catholic and 5th Protestant wards, and two of the Venereal wards, are intolerably offensive from the poison of the latrines, besides being ill-ventilated. The 6th Protestant ward is occupied by a female maniac, who is a great annoyance, and should at once be removed to the asylum, which is not full. The nurses are too few, and are consequently worked day and night. Visits of inspection are rare and irregular.
This institution seems to suffer from a divided command, a large portion of the funds being subscribed and controlled by different religious communities separately, and the subscribers of each persuasion being on bad terms with
the rest.
The lunatic asylum is a mere adjunct to the gaol, and seems to be very badly managed by a superintendent and his wife with 802. per annum, and a male assistant keeper with only 251, without allowances. The stores are kept by the superintendent, the accounts by the civil gaoler. There is no employ- ment or provision for exercise, except in walking. Records, visits, and reports are all very insufficient. There are only from four to five patients, but some better arrangement ought to be devised than one which leaves the difficult and delicate care of insanity to an ordinary gaoler. There is no information as to the nature of the powers, duties, or responsibilities of the medical officer. He should be required to attend personally to every part of the management, and the visitors of the hospital might conveniently extend their supervision to the asylum.
89. Labuan.-There is neither asylum nor civil hospital in Labuan. 90. Hong Kong.There is no lunatic asylum in Hong Kong.
Despatch, March 20, 1863.
In addition to four military and naval hospitals there is a Government Despatch,
civil hospital with about fifty patients, and a Lock hospital, which admitted April 23, 1863. 485 cases in the course of 1862. These two stand close together, and the same remarks seem generally to apply to both. Syphilis is the predominant disease, even in the former.
It is reported that "water has lately been introduced within the enclosure, but has not yet been carried into the buildings. The sewerage and drainage is very defective. There are no proper water-closets. Everything is carried away by hand, but it is by no means easy to keep the dwelling free from noxious exhalations, especially in hot weather." There are no baths of any kind. The Governor visits once a-year, and receives an annual report. does not appear that there is any other visitation or report.
If, in the absence of proper visits and reports, it were possible to judge safely, it would seem that, excepting the great sanitary defects above-mentioned, these two hospitals are well managed.
91. Tasmania. Since 1860 the Civil hospital has been under the manage- Despatch, ment of a board of twelve members, appointed by and responsible to the July 21, 1863. colonial Government. The asylum is administered by nine commissioners, appointed by the Governor.
One female and two male wards at the asylum give only from 600 to 650 cubic feet per head, but in other respects both these institutions appear to be admirably conducted, and the board and the commissioners are on the watch to improve them.
92. Victoria. The Victorian hospitals are generally satisfactory, but not Despatch,
Aug. 26, 1863. without defects.
That at Melbourne is not visited by superior civil authorities.
The Geelong hospital is sanitarily defective. Open drains discharge themselves into a gutter in the street; the sewage collects in cesspools and is carted away, and there are no latrines. There are none but portable baths. Six of the wards allow less than 700 cubic feet of space per head, and none more than 820.
The only visits are those of the members of the Committee of Management appointed by the subscribers, and the reports are insufficient.
The report of the Committee for 1862 is very favourable.
The
In the Castlemaine hospital there are no latrines within doors. space allotted to each patient is very insufficient, the most roomy ward giving only 800, and the two worst less than 325 cubic feet per head, whilst the average is 533. The provisions for visitation and reports seem to be insufficient. 'The Committee complain that the action taken by the Government with reference to private contributions has, with other causes, prevented them from
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