ILL-TREATMENT OF THE IN SANE IN VICTORIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 121, 30 May 1885, Page 7

ILL-TREATMENT OF THE IN SANE IN VICTORIA.

The Koyal Commission appointed to exinfos and report upon the condition of the linatic aeylums in Victoria have brought jo in elaborate report highly condemnatory |f tie existing state of these institutions, jmecUUy at Kew. The report gives particulars showing how the offorta to obtain j?idence woro frustrated, and says :— "Some very hard swearing has been perpetrated by some of tho witnesses called by I ji; who the guilty parties aro it is impos_b!e to indicate. Tho contrarioty of etidenae given by tho various witnesses ptoras beyond a doubt that perjury is common. Wo havo assertion and denial, and oath against oath several times repeated in _ueh a way that it is impossible to account for the discrepancies on the theory tiat one or other of tho parties wore mistaken. After going carefully through tho evidence, we find that it is so thoroughly conflicting that we aro bound to dismiss a ljrge number of charges as unproved. But them are two special cases to -which re leg to direct attention, viz., the cues of Robert Clifford and John Dougherty. Several charges woro made (gainst Robt. Clifford. A patient named John Tyler gavo a very circumstantial jeeonntof how Clifford had ill-treated him. Clifford denied on oath that he ever ill used Tyler, but we think lhat as Clifford does not 'get on with the patient*,' he it a very unsuitable attendant, and accordingly recommend that ho bo disuiased. Attendant John Dougherty is ebarged with roughly handling a patient, vbo died while ho was being fed, and waulting another.; In this caso tho evidence on the first charge was found wiflicting, but the assault we confer proved, and therefore recommend Dougherty's dismissal." With regard to isaults gonerally, the roport states that sees of ill-treatment of patients have been ((together too lightly doslt vith. Tho _»imposed in some instances are ridiculraly inadequate to tho gravity of the face. In all instances proved, nothing tot of instant dismissal should follow as a jnishment for tho ill-treatment of people 1.0 are in the most abjoct state of defenceaness it is possible to imagine. To palter i temporise with an offender when once tad out is, the commission think, only to aioursgo a most despicable and cowardly inn of brutality.