WELLINGTON.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 15, Issue 2017, 27 December 1870, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

A good deal of .comment has been made ! .by part, of the Wellington press upon the conduct of Dr. Grace, in not attending a Captain Matthews, of brig. Gazelle, who ... ! died shortly after. Dr. Grace's evidence at the Coroner's inquest wtil as follows:-^ ! It was simply accidental i that l'jdirf not attend the deceased, Captain Matthews. I went to bed early on Saturday;, evening, as I was suffering from toothache ; at about midnight, as near as I can recollect, I was aroused by the ringing of my belL I put my head out of the window of my bedroom, and asked wbo was there ; a man then told ite that Captain Matthews was iil afc the Commercial Hotel. The messenger. did not appear at all anxious about the matter, and after some little conversation I remarked that the night was too dirty and miserable to go out, with which opinion the messenger seemed entirely to acquiesce. I thought ii over a little, and again opened the wiudow to tell him I would go down, but found the man gone. I then considered what to do in the matter, and at lust determined, in my mind, .that as the man had left he would probably* apply to Dr. Kemp for assistance; I cried out, 1 but the man bad got too far, and' the night being miserable and dirty he could not hear; I again thought of the curious cases that happen in public houses, and thought* perhaps, it was some drunken squabble, and decided not to go, the more so because I naturally imagined that if Dr. Kemp was first there,, as I expected he would, .No. 2 doctor would say " confound that fellow, he is interfering with me." Tjjia^ialt JO Ijay^ to say on the matter. . : The Advertiser of the 20th thus remarks upon this case :— The utter silence of the jury; who yesterday sat on the inquest'held over the body of the late Captain Matthews, on the subject of the alleged refusal of a physician to give his professional servfces has given almost universal surprise. Strictly speaking, we know that the question was not included in their duties which were primarily to consider the causes that produce death. Still it has become a custom for juries to record their opinions respecting exceptional circumstances such as those connected with the death of Captain Matthews. ." It had been stated that a physician refused to attend to an urgent re? quest to visit the deceased.. This, statement was corroborated at the inquest, the singular reason, being given that the messenger's objection to stand and argue the point while the patient was dying, paused the, physician to consider that the case, was not urgent. Of course the man did not waste time in discussing with an unwilling man, hurried away in the hopes of finding, a less cautious, gentleman — and he succeeded, though, alas, too late. It is not the first time that such a. case has .occurred in Wellington. It is not long ago that a man died on board a small craft lying alongside the wharf, and no .medical m^a could be found to attend, him. The.. ibatß fact is enough to make us blush for the profession, and we need not enlarge upon it. The-law is powerless in such cases, .but public opinion may soon bring about a different state of things. . .. - . ' f