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Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 9648, 13 February 1892, Page 4

Nothing is more common than to hear the friends of unhappy people who, having lost their reason, have been separated from their fellows in society, complaining that their recovery is retarded by the measures taken for their safe-keeping. “ If you only let us take care of him,” th°y cry, talking of some near relative afflicted, “we will very soon restore him to his senses. He is harmless now; he can, therefore, do no harm to anyone ; send him out to us.” They have forgotten their terrors which induced them to move the law of sequestration. They know absolutely nothing about the phases uud dangerous tendencies of mental disease; in a word they display a courage which, being the courage of forgetfulness and ignorance, is the worst form of recklessness. Were their own the only lives their recklessness endangered, the case would be complete enough against them. But the case is made far stronger by the fact that they 'endanger the lives of ,otjher people,-whom they never consult

about running the risk. It is a very natural line of thought and action, wp confess at once. So long as tie holiest feelings of human nature continue to bind families in happy union, so long will the affections be found carrying the emotions beyond the pale of reason. And so long will it be the. duty of those who have been entrusted, with the welfare of society to resist all demands which are unreasonable, keeping their hearts untouched, or at least their brains unaffected, by tbs pathos of the circumstances. It is a vast subject however. Mental disease occurs in so many forms; what is good! in one case may be bad in another; precedents are often traps for the unwary; cures have been effected, are being effected daily—there must be no difficulty about letting the recovered go back to their freedom j there are cases in which freedom is the best curative agent. Itis a fact that there are quite harmless lunatics j in setting free so much depends on the person who is to exercise control or surveillance. In short, the subject is : very vast, as we have just said. The case of David Munro, of Tauranga, has brought it painfully and prominently to the front. What the Coroner’s Jury said about the Whau Asylum authorities and the friends, was very pointed indeed. It was also apparently deserved. The brother who told the jury that he thought the man dangerous to himself, but not to others, proved his recklessness to be just of the order we have described. It was a case of! the insanity of one being followed by the want of thought of many. The worst of it was that the want of! thought was so obstinate as to refuse all warnings. Dr Bullen and one of the police gave them in plenty, and the poor wife appears to have done so too ; but the poor woman yielded to the agitation which got her unhappy partner out of the safe retreat of the asylum. As to the asylum, authorities, they have not appeared in the matter as yet, nor have they been placed on their defence, except by the fact that the mau they set free has relapsed aud committed some hideous murders. Before we condemu them for error or recklessness it is but fair to hear their side of the question. In any case, this sad Tauranga tragedy has a powerful moral for the guidance of all who have friends or relations among the afflicted, to do their best to avoid the recklessness which is the special danger of their unfortunate position.