THE "HARD CASE."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9150, 4 September 1888, Page 6

THE "HARD CASE."

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —The blood of every humane person in Auckland doubtless boiled on reading Colonel Haultain'a pungent exposure of the false imprisonment of poor " Mrs. Clifton, who (the Colonel says) is kept confined in the Lunatic Asylum only because she is destitute and helpless, having no friends," &c. Just think of the shocking possibility of our being deserted in our old age by our children, and imprisoned with idiots and maniacs because we may be destitute and friendless! Is there no remedy for this state of things ! Yes, thank God, there is. Our much abused colonial legislature has enacted the lunacy law of 1882, which is the Magna Charta of Mrs. Clifton and every helpless lunatic ; and if the gallant Colonel leaves the poor soul in a madhouse another day he alone will be to blame, and I feel confident that if he is reminded of his duty he will dauntlessly carry it out with the self-forgetful devotion

of a British soldier. Sections 174 and 175 of the Lunatics Act, 1882, says:"The Inspector, or any official visitor, may visit any lunatic in any asylom .... and, if it shall appear to such Inspector or official visitor that such lunatic is detained without sufficient cause, hi shall certify under his hand and transmit such opinion to a Resident Magistrate or to the Colonial Secretary. Upon receipt of such opinion . . . the Resident Magistrate or Colonial Secretary may make such order as to him shall seem meet for the discharge of such lunatic, and such lunatic shall be discharged accordingly." Now, this law says imperatively that the Inspector shall, not that he should, but shall certify, &c. As one of the great body of the public, not as an official Visitor, for I have not had fair play in my office, I implore the Colonel to sot the law in motion for the liberation of that unhappy woman, who, he says, " is kept confined in the Asylum only because she is destitute and helpless." It ie beside the mark to ask where is she to go to ? That is not the question. I publicly protest against keeping any person in the Asylum merely because they have no homo and no friends. That is an ulterior matter. Set them free, and the people of Auckland, than whom there are none more benevolent in the world, will shelter them. Then will be the time to see whether or not the Charitable Aid Board will turn a deaf car to the sighing 6f the poor and the crying of the needy. I think they will not. There is too great a disposition to treat our lunacy law as waste paper, and trample on the civil liberty of the poor and friendless, from professedly humane motives. To Jericho with the humanity which keeps a poor woman in a madhouse merely through fear of a worse thing happening to her. No worse thing could happen to her, and as the Colonel would not publicly proclaim Mrs. Clifton's false imprisonment unless he could substantiate it, I implore him not to flinch from doing his duty. Surely the tyranny of red tape will not utterly nullify the law of this democratic country.—l am, &c., F. G. Ewixuton.