2                                No. 1324-P.H., 8TH JULY 1927

           6.  Buildings.—The following major works were under construction
during the year:—

           (a) Mental Hospital, Madras—

                      (i) Administrative block.
                      (ii) Quarters for the nursing staff.

           (b) Mental Hospital, Calicut—

                      An industrial workshop.

No other works of importance were undertaken during the year, as
the Government proposed to provide for all the future requirements of
these hospitals in the general scheme of improvements, which would be
carried out during future years.

7.  General.—In connection with the general question of reorganizing
the three mental hospitals so as to convert them from mere asylums into
up-to-date hospitals for the scientific treatment of insane persons, the
Surgeon-General submitted during the course of the year an approximate
estimate amounting to over nine lakhs of rupees for the construction of
additional buildings. The Government considered that the only item
which could be regarded as immediately essential was the improvement
of the accommodation in the female section of the Madras Mental
Hospital. They have accordingly sanctioned the construction of a new
enclosure for European females and the conversion of the existing female
enclosure into an enclosure for Indian female patients, at a cost of over
Rs. 2 lakhs and necessary funds have been provided to enable the work to
be started during 1927-28. In regard to the works necessary to effect an
improvement in the accommodation in the mental hospitals at Calicut
and Waltair, the Surgeon-General has been requested to submit in con-
nection with the budget for 1928-29 proposals for such of them as he
considers to be specially urgent. During the year under report, a matron
specially trained in the treatment of mental diseases was recruited
from England for employment in the Madras Mental Hospital and one
of her duties will be to train the nursing staff of the hospital in their
work. The Deputy Superintendent of the Mental Hospital, Calicut—an
officer of the grade of Civil Assistant Surgeon—was deputed to the Madras
Mental Hospital for the purpose of studying the working of the hospital
with a view to improving the running of the institution at Calicut. The
Government also sanctioned in April 1926 the employment of a qualified
weaving-master in the Mental Hospital, Madras.

                      (By order of the Government, Ministry of Public Health.)

                                                                  C. B. COTTERELL,
                                                                  Secretary to Government.

To the Surgeon-General.
           „ District Magistrate, Malabar.
           „ District Magistrate, Vizagapatam.
           „ Government of India, Home Department (with C.L.).
           „ Secretary and Librarian, School of Economics and Sociology,
                                            University of Bombay.
           „ Librarian, Secretariat Library, Madras.
           „ Honorary Secretary, Local Self-Government Institute, Poona.
Editors' Table.