THE CORONERS BILL

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5238, 26 July 1876, Page 3

THE CORONERS BILL

Tiik following is the speech of Mr. William Swauaon on tins bill, in which aic nair.itccl some ohl stones concerning Auckland • — " It was not often th.it hosuppoi ted the (Joveinment, l)ut ou this occasion ho would do ao. The only f.iult lie found with the bill was that it provided that Jlcsident Magistrates should be Coroners. Ho was afiaid that by so doing their ordinary business would bo interfeied with .it times, ilo had had a little e\.peiienee as <i juryman since he camo to the colony, and had seen some of the evils of having a medical man as Coroner. In the countiy ho came fiom the business was done by the I'loeuiator-Fisoal, and he should like to sco a similar olliccr in this colony Ho believed that would bo a step m the light dnection. The fiist inquest he seived on in New Zealand was held upwaids of Unity years ago ; and if there was anybody who was the cause of its being held, it was tlu' Coi oner himself. The f.u t was iccalled to his rocollection by the allusion ol the honourable member for (Jeiahline, who said that it would be supposed that the medical Coronets wete in the habit of poisoning people ; but that honouiablo gentleman seemed to forget that there were other ways of getting nd of a man than by poisoning him. Tho inquest he (Mr. Swauaon) had referred to was held on tho body of an insane man, who, it had been said by some people, was bettor dead than alive, considering tho state he was in. The Coroner was tho medical oiheer of tho colony at that time, and had charge of the public institutions. There was no lunatic asylum m Auckland, but there was a pusim in wlnUi piisoncrs and lunatics weie confined. When ho and his fellow jurymen went to \ lew tho body of the lunatic, they found th.it the man had been locked in a cell within a cell, with his hands stiapped behind him lie was subject to lits, and it w.w piovcd that he had been bci/ul with a fit m the cell, and had fallen ou his face, winch stiffened in death, and it was clear that the man had been stiff >cated. The Coioner had the whole tontiol ot the place, and could have ap pointed a piisonerto look after the deceased; but he did not do so, and the man died unattended. The Coroner was the pel son who was to blame for this, and when the jury met he told them in an off-hand way that it was a nieio formal affair, and that they would not be detained moro than a few minutes ; but it happened that they were do tuned for half a day. He had known cases in which there had been great difficulty in getting jurymen for inquests Busy men wen- walking in tho streets, when a policeman sei/.cd them, and compelled them to go to the place wheie the inquest was being held. Tho consequence was that they, having their business to attend to, hurried over the inquest without paying the proper amount of attention to it. It was much better in Auckland now than it used to be, because there was a gentleman there who performed the duties of Coroner well. Hut whenever a lunatic died in tho Asylum, the Coioner wan sent for, and when the people in the neighbouihood, who aie veiy tew, .saw him coming they cleared away in all dnections, because they did not like to be called on to act as juiors so frequently ; but tho Coroner did not object because there was always a fee for him. As there is great reluctance to serve on Coioneis' juiieb, the 1 eduction in the number will bo a great improvement, ile would be very glad to soe tho work taken ouc of the hands of the medical men. If a medical man were wanted, let him go and bo examined by the gentleman who was holding tho inquiry. He should bo allowed dimply to give his evidence as a witness Sometimes he had found that medical men who acted as Coroners hold peculiar opinions of their own as to tho causo of death, and persisted in forcing their own opinions down the throats of the jurymen. Ho believed that a friend of his had had some communi-<-.iti«n witli tlie Government on this subject, and he had also heard that some gentlemen were .it present in communication witli the Coveriunent as to their having been called upon by a Coioner to sign a paper certifying to the cause of death in a certain ca«e where an inquest had been held, while tho paper wns blank, the Coroner stating it was his business, and not theirs, to fill it up. Some allusion had beon made to fires, ilo would say th.it a ( 'oioner could not bo mado to hold an inquest upon a lite unless he chose to do it lit had hcaul of cases in which insurance companies and others had tried hard to get an inquest upon a fire, and tho Coroner had icfu*<d to hold it. Ho had been tluity-thiee yean in the colony, and he had never known any good to enmo of a Colonel's juiy, bur, on the tonti.uy, a vciy gi eat deal ot tumble and expense."