ANNUAL REPORT ON LUNATIC ASYLUMS.                          11

32.   Diets and supplies for all the asylums are provided by contractors. The
food in all cases has been good and plentiful, and the best evidence of its sufficiency
is that all the patients whose mental condition improve gain in weight during their
residence in an asylum.

33.   The recoveries for dieting patients have been larger than in any previous
year, as have been also the proceeds from manufactures in asylums, as the following
particulars will show. I hope the gardening operations in Madras, where labor is
plentiful, will soon show a considerable advantage to the asylum :—

34. On the whole I have to record my opinion that the asylums in Madras
have been efficiently and economically managed. It may be that the results of
labor are less evident in the balance sheet than in some other institutions of the
kind which, from local causes, can employ the energies of the patients in profitable
labor. In the Madras Asylum all the clothing is woven and made on the premises,
but we could not introduce stone-breaking or oil-pressing to make a profit, and
the great bulk of the labor in the grounds and garden show no profit.

                                                   I have the honor to be,
                                                                     Sir,
                                                         Your most obedient servant,

                                       W. R. CORNISH, Surgn.-Genl.,F.R.C.S., C.I.E.,
                                                      Surgeon-General with the Govt. of Madras.