HEALTH HOSTELS—PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Lord Dawson's demand for health hostels has a particular force with regard to the treatment of mental illness. A sane policy would result in reducing the population of asylums by one half in a short space of time. This Society together with its Chairman, Dr. Risien Russell, has long advocated the establishment of curative hostels, entirely apart from lunacy administration and free from detention. The initial cost would be negligible as compared with the ultimate saving of 50 per cent. on the present annual expenditure of £8,000,000. The environment of lunacy naturally tends to induce lunacy.
—I am, Sir, &c., FRANCIS J. WHITE, Secretary, National Society for Lunacy Law Reform. Avenue Chambers, Southampton. Raw, London, W.C. 1.
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