Evening Post. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1881. THE MOUNT VIEW ASYLUM.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 34, 11 February 1881, Page 2

Evening Post. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1881. THE MOUNT VIEW ASYLUM.

A formal complaint has been addressed to the Government by the relative of a patient in the Mount View Asylum in reference to the conduct of certain officers of that institution. Charges of cruelty are made, and various improper proceedings are alleged to have taken place in the Asylum. The complainant, therefore, requests that a full investigation shall be made into his allegation, and that at such enquiry evidence shall be taken on oath. He asserts that there is a widespread distrust as to the management of the Asylum ; that the patients' relatives outside are afraid to speak, lest they should get their relations, who are inmates of the Asylum, into trouble ; and that ex-patients dare not state their own experiences for fear that it should be remembered against them in case of their sundering from a relapse, and being again committed to the Asylum. The letter concludes as follows: — " This is a matter with which, as such, the Civil Service has no concern, but in whioh the pftbUo have an overwhelming and peouliar interest ; a board consisting of Government officiate will not, therefore, be satisfactory. It would also be a mere fame if the board have not power to administer an oath and compel attendance ; and I, therefore, hsg to request that it be appointed under $he Corn.miamoners Powers Act, 1867. It would also be highly improper for Dr. Skae to sit on the board, for he is clearly interested personally in the result. I mean no personal disrespect to that gentleman, but I fear he has trusted greatly too much to Mr. Whitelaw. Might j I be permitted to suggest that the two memben for the City ftnd the Resident Magistrate '

would form a suitable board? Ah one of them happens to ba the Mayor of the city, it would make the board representative of the public." Whatever opinions may be entertained as to tho merits of the complaints which have been made, there can be no possible difference of opinion on one thing — that an independent enquiry must take place, and that instantly. This ia absolutely imperative, qnite as much in the interests of the officers against whom the complaints havo been made as of the patients themselves. It is not to be tolerated for one moment, either that helpless and unfortunate men and women, afflicted with the mo3t terrible visitation which can befall human nature, should be subject to ill-treatment, or that if such ill-usage has really been perpetrated the guilty persons should escape condign punishment, or on the other hand that public officers should be allowed to rest under so grave an imputation for which there may turn out to be not the slightest foundation beyond the mere excited fancies of diseased imaginations. It would be in the highest degree improper to express any opinion at all on the matter pending a thorough and independent investigation of the whole circumstances. We say advisedly a " thoroughand independent " investigation, for no mere perfunctory enquiry will satisfy the public mind now the alarm has once been sounded. It is not a case in which Dr. Skae can have anything to do with holding the enquiry, because he must of necessity be ono of the witnesses called, apart from the fact that he 33 indirectly involved in the matter, being the Inspector of the Asylum, and therefore supposed to detect any abuses if snch existed. Nor would a Board of Civil Servants— such as that which brought in so unjust and prepoßteroua a verdict in the case of Mr. Heney Jackson, the late Chief (surveyor for the Wellington District— be acceptable either to tbe accusers or the accused. No; the commissioners who conduct the enquiry must be thoroughly unconnected not only with tho particular department of the Civil Service the conduct of whose officers is called in question, but also with the Civil Service at all. Otherwise their finding will fail to command the public confidence on the ono hand, or that of tha officers concerned on the other. Such cases are the most delicate and complex that can well be submitted to any tribunal. Evidence of the most conflicting character has to be balanced with the utmost nicety, its contradictions duly weighed, and its inconsistencies, so far as possible, reconciled. The difficulty is greatly complicated by the extent to which the mental capacity of the witnesses on the one side has to be tested before deciding on the propriety of allowing weight to their statements, while tho strong personal interest of those on the other in the result of the enquiry has also to be taken into account in according credence to their testimony. It is quite certain, before any such enquiry is held, that two distinct sets of allegations will inevitably be produced. On the one hand, in all cases of the kind, most assuredly a number of mad patients will be found to come forward and swear that they have been horribly ill-used, that they_ are quite sane, and have been cruelly punished for asserting their sanity, or that they have been ordered to do impossible or unusual things, and subjected to inhuman chastisement for their inability to comply with the orders. On the other hand, it is equally a foregone conclusion that all the officers will indignantly repudiate the imputations of cruelty, and will swear that they invariably treated the patients with almost an excess of gentleness, more especially those who had been loudest in their complaints of ill usage. All this is a matter of course, and it is only by the most careful comparison of different statements, the most assiduous sifting ot evidence, the most patient and incessant watchfulness for discrepancies, exaggeration or coloring of facts, that a just and fair decision can be arrived at. We know of no matter demanding such exercise of care, patience, impartiality, and perspicacity as an enquiry into' the conduct of a lunatic asylum. The self-interest of its officers and the mental affliction of its inmates form two factors of embarrassment which are most difficult and troublesome to grapple with. All the same an enquiry must be held, and that without a moment's needless delay, g [Since the above was in type, we learn with much satisfaction that the Government have determined to appoint a Commission to investigate the ' complaints made in regard to tho management of the Mount View Asylum and the conduct of its officers. We also understand that the members of the Commission will be selected from outside the Civil Service altogether, and that it will be in every sense a competent and independent Court of Enquiry.]