CHAPTER 16. General Administration --- Exempted County System. The commission would again recur to the urgent necessity of the transfer of the insane of New York and Kings counties to the State. If this can not be done, then the institutions for the insane now under the control of the respective boards of commissioners of charities and correction in the counties of New York and Kings should be separated from the other charitable and correctional institutions and placed under boards of commissioners whose jurisdiction should be exclusively limited to the insane. 42 CHAPTER 17. New York County Asylums. During the past fiscal year, at the request of the mayor of the city of New York, a general investigation into the management of the New York city asylums for the insane was made. It began on May 31, 1894, and continued with occasional intermissions until the early part of November. The investigation was intended to be a searching one, and embraced substantially every feature of the management of the department for the insane, including the duties of commissioners, the medical service, the nursing, the treatment of the patients, the bedding, clothing, food supplies, etc., also the erection of buildings, character of work on same and the manner of letting contracts, etc. A large number of witnesses were sworn and the fullest opportunity was afforded to all who desired to be heard. The board of commissioners of charities and correction was represented by counsel during the entire session. So far as the commission was concerned, the investigation was not necessary for its information as to the condition and management of the New York city asylums, it being already familiar with these from its official visitations and inspections. The investigation, however, served to emphasize and put in tangible form conclusions to which the commission had long since come in respect to the defects as well as the needs of this department, and it trusts that little time will be lost by the incoming Legislature in accomplishing a signal act of humanity as well as justice by enacting the transfer of these institutions and their helpless inmates to the control of the State. The report which the commission submitted to the mayor, upon the investigation, and the conclusions reached by it, is as follows: CARLOS F. MACDONALD, president; GOODWIN BROWN, HENRY A. REEVES, Commissioners. ALBANY, December 26, 1894. Hon. THOMAS F. GILROY, Mayor of the City of New York: SIR.The State Commission in Lunacy would respectfully present to your honor its report of the inquiry into the conduct and management of the New York City Asylums for the Insane, which it undertook in accordance with the following correspondence: CITY OF NEW YORK, OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, May 14, 1894. CARLOS F. MACDONALD, M. D., President State Commission in Lunacy, 334 Fifth Avenue, City: DEAR SIR. I deem it my duty to call your attention to the serious charges made by publication in the New York Herald of May 13, 1894, against the administration of the institutions for the insane under the charge of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction of this city. Under section 10, chapter 283 of the Laws of 1889, State of New York, the power of examining into the truth or falsity of such charges rests with the State Commission in Lunacy. I have to request that such an examination be had at the earliest convenience of the commission. Inclosed please find a copy of the publication referred to. Yours very truly, THOS. F. GILROY, Mayor. 334 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, May 15, 1894. Hon. THOMAS F. GILROY, Mayor of the City of New York: DEAR SIR.-I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of May 14, addressed to me as president of the State Commission in Lunacy, calling attention to "the serious charges made by publication in the New York Herald of May 13, 1894, against the administration of the institutions for the insane under the charge of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction of this city," a copy of which publiyou inclosed, and requesting the State Commission in Lunacy to cation |