Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9142, 25 August 1888, Page 4

The case of the man en wick, who is at present an inmate of the Lunatic Asylum, and in regard to whom a fresh application was made yesterday to the Judge of the Supreme Court in Chambers, is a most extraordinary one. Some time ago Mr. Macrae, solicitor, acting for Mrs. Fen wick, applied to the Court to inquire whether Fenwick, then an inmate of the Asylum, was of unsound mind and incapable of managing his own affairs or himself. The inquiry was held in due course, Mr. Justice Gillies personally examining the alleged lunatic twice, and hearing a large amount of medical, testimony. . ,The facts are very peculiar. Some < years ago, Fenwick was married at. Kaipara by the Eev. Mr. Gittos, and for some time he' carried on -with more or less industry his farming work. His mind then became unsettled, and it is alleged, on undoubted . authority, that lie was about to .kill his wife as a sacrifice for the iniquity of the district. Owing to the influence of Mr. Gittos, he was restrained, and after some time he with his wife proceeded to England. There he was confined in a Lunatic Asylum for some time, and his wife and children returned to New Zealand. A year or two afterwards Fenwick followed, but from the time of his arrival he distinctly refused to acknowledge that Mrs. Fenwick was his wife. He will not be questioned on this subject, but he simply admits that if . she is the woman he was married to she ; is his wife. It has been set up that he believes that through spiritual or demoniacal influence, the" personnel of the woman is changed. On this subject his mind is unhinged, but on every other his reasoning and other faculties are as acute as those of most people, and the learned judge therefore ruled that although on this subject he was of unsound mind, he was not incapable of managing himself or his' affairs. Yesterday Mr. Macrae applied for an order for the Registrar to make inquiries, arguing that as the man had been found to be of unspund mind and was an inmate of the Asylum, he was a lunatic within the meaning of the Act, as he could not enter into any contract, or do any legal act. His Honor, however, was very emphatic in his refusal of the application. - He said- that by the; finding . of i the Court the man is not a lunatic within the meaning of I the Act, and that therefore he had no jurisdiction. He would not take on himself the responsibility of ordering his discharge ; but he more than once stated his opinion that the man was illegally in . custody—in fact, undergoing false imprisonment said that, if those interested understood the full meaning of the previous finding, of the Court, he would not be detained in the Asylum. The case is"an' extraordinary one. Four

medical men have sworn that it would he dangerous to the man and to k; family to allow him to be at large -J 3 he might probably commit suicide n! attempt i the life of his wife 'pi Judge, after careful, and prolonged terviews finds that on every" r>oinT except one, he is sane, and capable It managing himself and his affairs— tW in point of fact, he is not a l Un 3 within the meaning of the Act—l yet he is detained in the Asylum ",} not allowed to do what the CW holds he is capable of doin»—th™ is ' . of Vnu nasir hi «self and tiffairs. The origin of this inquiry after Fen wick's incarceration for tu ' years, is that a short time ago thm,, J"* -the death of a relative in England he became entitled to some property auri his wife could not deal with it o r re ceive the proceeds until the Judge of 'the Supreme Court had held an inquiry and found the patient to be of unsound mind " and incapable of managing him self or his affairs." He found the former, but not the latter, and that ' • the- dilemma from which Mr. Macrae seems to be unable to extricate the case