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108
continuous apartment , by removing all the dividing partitions
but one, and leaving all the original doors and unglazed
\'lindo\1S . On a windy night, such a draught pervaded the place,
that the lamps \1ere often blown out . The floor \'las bricked,
tiled and flagged; there \vas a fireplace in each division.
The inmates,· however, had the comfort of bedsteads and were not
put in horrid bunks as they are now at Impression Bay.
Another long dormitory of similar construction but inferior
in every respect (except that it had a boarded floor) existed
at some distance from the former . It had no fireplace, and
\•zas a perfect temple of \qinds , from the numerous imperfect doors
and windows and defective shingling, and often were the poor
sleepers wet in their beds when it rained. For want of
sufficient bedsteads , many of the patients had to sleep on the
floor.
There was a dismal prospectless yard enclosed for about ten
feet high, \'lith boards in which the men could exercise in fine
\'leather, but there was no shelter there from the sun. A wash
house and a privy completed the accommodations . At some
distance a row of old, narrow, comfortless station ce lls away
from any survei llance were allotted for some of the insane;
but there was not a single place provided in which a riotous or
unmanageable patient could be safely and comfortab ly trusted
apart . The sick, however, were generally removed to the
hospital for treatment . The food was cooked in the kitchen
of the distant hospital. Of the neglected and filthy state
of the miserable quarters allotted to these afflicted beings ,
some idea may be formed when I say that mouldy human
excrement was found behind the beds .
When Hall took charge, there were between sixty and seventy
lunatics in the asylum, many of them free and paid for by the colony.
Some were so helpless they had to be assisted in and out of bed, dressed
f
and fed by the attendants ; some were frequently afflicted by epi leptic
fits, andoth.ers subject to such outbursts of fury that they were
dangerous to all around them. Indeed , several severe injuries , both
to lunatics and attendants, had occurred from this cause. Many
suffered from an involuntary discharge of faeces every night, whilst
others never ceased tearing their clothes and bedding to ribbons .
Although shocked and angered Hall did not blame the Medical
Officers who preceded him, or even the underkeeper who was in charge.
These men were not responsible for the wretched and insufficient
accommodation provided, nor for the numb er and quality of the staff.
Rather the blame rested squarely on the system which was regulated by
the Principal Medical Officer and the Comptroller-General and allowed
by the Governor . The staffi_ng situation was particularly appalling
and could in no \tay be excus ed.