ST. HELENS INQUIRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15262, 28 March 1913, Page 9

ST. HELENS INQUIRY.

|p £HE /■ MINISTER'S , POSITION. |p (EXPLANATION BY COUNSEL. ——- If / INCLUSION OF PROCEEDINGS. ■ . / jg.*, .TOT inquiry into the administration of I fit Helens Home was concluded yester- ¥ d»y. before the commissioner {Mr. C. C. . Kettle), S.M. No further evidence was j/V 4«ken, but ..addresses were delivered by ;|ltJlMrs. Emily Nicol and Mr. A. E. Skel-I'-f ton. *' No address was' delivered .by Mr. ij|i|€elwyn Mays. * / 8 la closing her address, Mrs. Nicol said V;' - that she hoped the result of the inquiry ■would be to place the homo under proper control by conscientious people, so that V the women going into it would be as Cvv • wfe as if they were being treated in their f f pwn home*. if; Referring to some of Mrs. Nicol's refer '■ marks, the commissioner said that the * medical men had all condemned the St. fill. Helena Home building, and he believed i that if circumstances would permit, , a i»w and up-to-da*« hospital -would be gj/ : \j»cted. ■t'l-"- * TBRflMtlmi of Haalcii.

V* Inspection of Books. tik*> In opening his address, Mr. A. E. : 6kelton said he had been surprised and '■i disappointed at the action of the DepartHtS^Wnt in delegating to Mr. Mavs, not ; - only the duty of representing it, but also el defending those persons who were Kilty parties to the inquiry, * and who, 1 s'vloa 1 certain extent, were on trial. The Department ' should have stood apart from r C *11 the parties. In making these observay however, he wished it to be underflood that he was not reflecting any way ■ upon Mr. Mays. He then dealt in detail with the evidence, and said that he did yo& press to be allowed to inspect the books, as he knew such an, inspection $$$>%would delay the commission's report for •j/- .■ two or three days. He drew the coml", Missioner* attention to facts he knew would be disclosed in the books, and particolarfy to • the treatment which had / " been given to other patiemta having exnetly symptoms to those of Mrs. 4 Chamberlain. Ho ° explained that he / 1* would not waive absolutely any right he '■ivy" plight have to inspect the books, but would " forego it, providing the commissi VQ stoner himself thoroughly investigated the ' - points mentioned. An Explanation. , ivv f Mr. Mays intimated that he wished to ps - make .-an explanation in regard to the ; \ Ministerial telegram, he had quoted on k. '0i (Wednesday. - Between the tot and ■eoood bearing off the special . case :i; in, the Supreme Court, he .had.'tele* J 'M graphed to the Inspector-General of -■ Hospitals to. ascertain whether he : should use the argument that the compolsory ,or. general inspection of /the case books was contrary to , the interests of the | pubho policy. . •_/ ' The Minister's ' PoeiUon. ' On March 19. the day before the final ' inroment was heard m the'. Supreme Court, he had received a telegram from, the Minister, fhe fall text of which/was as "follows:" In answer to your telegram addressed to the Inspector-General of Hos- • pitals, lam distinctly of opinion that it weald be detrimental -to the public inter- • ests if a precedent were established that fe- weald allow hospital case-books contain- '■ ing family "histories of patients, which are f often of extremely private , nature, to be It available for general inspection. Howif"- . ever, : the importance of this question is % audi that the Judge of: the. Supreme r Court will . undoubtedly recognise, and I 0 have no -doubt;. he will not give a ruling allowing the inspection of such : books unless he is ; confident that such inspection is necessary for th« purges of the in--1 Continuing, Mr. • : Mays j said that ; : r as the : ground, of the . Department's ; ob- • jection to the inspection of the . books %rrwn the vely outset was that such an ' inspection was contrary to the interests of I■ % • large body of the community, it was If; derirtile to obtain the '. ruling as .to !'/•; h whether, in the/ circumstances/.that line fey lot defence ;: should be taken. - That point been raised by him in the' Supreme " Court, but the Judge had been unable; to i. ; , ttacide it, mainly because he had not suff) ficient knowledge of ' the contents of the fe case-boohs and of ' the general trend .of '}, ■ the evidenoe given at the inquiry. The Judge had intimated that the matter , was rfrm for the commiiisioner to decide if the* point was raised subsequently. * ' Point Still Opa to be Batoed. This had left tho point still open to be 'raised at the inquiry when the complain- ' N ants made application to inspect those : ;portions of toe books . which ; were not P;- : i!privileged -on the ground of being comt' ;; munications to the ; medical officer. -•: Mr.'. SWf Maya said •' that in citing a portion .of the Minister'a - telegram to the commissioner fei h/ en Wednesday be : had merely wished to I , . intimate that the point was still open and - ,wai supported by authority'and could be - .• taken up if 1 necessary, in the . present case. '""'.fi' The 'examination of the'books, by v . the matron and himself on Wednesday' had, pfVf shown ; what portions ' were entitled to' be "sealed .up as privileged, and. he added, there was no objection, apart from that of . vuWio policy, to the showing of the un- |' privileged portion to counsel for the comt ; - plainant. He desired.' to make the fore- . going explanation because it might have %-l"' f been construed that the Minister was defc|% termined to refuse inspection of the books t i in any event, even if, firstly by the Judge ' and afterwards/ by the commissioner, it ir\ was thought that a general inspection of the unprivileged portion was necessary for - ■ the ' purposes of tie. inquiry. In conclu- ■' lion he stated that he had pointed out ; 'v" the position to Mr. Skelton, and the lat- ' v ter had said he was quite satisfied therewith. 1 Happily, therefore, it .was not necessary to press the point further, as ?!'' the matter would end without the books illji. being inspected acid without either party && .waiving its rights. . ' . : WM . The commissioner remarked that it was yi pity the question : had ever been raised. Ihe inquiry was then closed, the com--7 *«,' , missioner intimating that his report would If .. JO in as early as possible.