SWEET SUNNYSIDE

NZ Truth, Issue 437, 8 November 1913, Page 1

SWEET SUNNYSIDE

WHERE ALL THE ATTENDANTS ARE ARCHANGELS Bmjjita DAY AN EXPERT WHITEWASH ARTIST

P; of Mr. V. G. Day, sently sat as a Ro^al it Christchurcli to m- 1 o treatment 'of cer- 1 at Sunnyside Mental i presented.to Parliaek. *, v * The Commissioner^ report is of considerable length .. and « * covers i practically all the ground traver- 1 sed during tho eight days' sitting ' of the Commission at Christ- ' church. "Truth" reported those proceedings lengthily and com-- ■ * ;p^ensive^ . enough" ,*to\ obviate recapitulation. Suffice it, .there- • fore, to state that Commissioner play's findings entirely 'the medical men and staff of at* "tehdants at Sunnyside from any blame through .which- it might be Apposed that they are, other than 'aJsmaU band s o£ who i scorn to tr^at 'an inmate. *of the institution with anything! bfct brotherly loye aiid^devotion, j Mr. Day's ohly aclversQ criticisms j •concerned hospital ■ d|fioiencies j lor which the staft could by no stretch of. imaginatiopyb*. .held responsible. The deficiencies men • tioned m t^ereportVco^eern the present construction of the hos- ■ jrital building itself, $nd fHe right- * ing of these wTougsV is^ only a question of finance. Apqrtj there* tore, from the fact that a few architectural discrepancies have beeii discovered, the eijght days' inquiry have been abortive. Cer- • tainly the Commissioner's report will allay a large amount of publio > feeling which was flrst fired when a glimmer of the inside life - at Smmyside was affordeel by the death of Charlea McMeekin and the incidental gaoling of Attendant Chapman on a manslaughter charge some mouths ago. But the Commission was appointed not so much for ttie purpose of allaying public sentiment as with the object of bettering tho lot of the hundreds of unfortunate Sunnyside patients who were be. Kevea to -be silently suffering vicious treatment at the hands of the attendants who had them m their charge and p^wer. Taking into the lines on I whiri the Commission was founded, Ac obvious result, before ono '^ _____¥ °* ov i^ ence was beard, was •JBr the staff at Sunnyside would Sot be adjujdged guilty of maladministration, neglect or cruelty towards patients. , • • . . * At the outset a mistake was made m restricting tho inquiry to i certain specific cases which "con- ! eerned only one of the Dominion's mental hospitals. The Commission was appointed to inquire into tb« circumstances connected with tho alleged ill-treat-ment of five patients; three of whom were deceased and one of whom was still m tho asylum and incapable of giving evidence. Tho relatives of these patients gave evidence at the inquiry, but as was only to be expected, they had never actually seen the patients ill-treated and could therefore give only second-hand evidence. One ex-inmate, who if now a sane man with an intellect to compare more than favorably with that of tho average man, gave evidehce concerning the ghoulish manner m which he had seen attendants treat patients. ' But the very fact of the man having been an inmate of the asylum was responsible for his evidence being discounted. In fact that point was stressed m

/counsel's address at the conclusion of the inquiry. < . * "■■. ; .*'.. . ■■ V- ..* • - .* 'Had the Commission been conducted on broader anil moire open principles, evidence from ex-at-tendants and others not likely to be biassed m any direction would undoubtedly have been forthcoming.. Jf Had the complainants and the - -'defendants'' been given equal opportunity of legal reprcsentlttion we would not have seen 'bueh inequality ai the decent m, quii^jaa two King's Counsel being retained for the "defence^? whilst the relailfves of only! oiie of the five persons concerned m the inquiry \ could afford to • retain counsel. \ Witnesses who ' could have brought substantial evidence for the /'complainants" were apparently given no inducement to come forward, and -right onward | until the time of the inquiry, infojnnation concerning the pro- j gress being inadp was at a pre- j miuin. It was eventually publish • j ed that the Commission would j open on a certain date, Buf it ] was not until about eight weeks later that the public again heard of the inquiry. ' no; explanation whatever being given for the postponement. Judging by the tone of his report, Mr. Day has placed an ultra amount of faith m the evidence given by the medicals officers and attendants at Sunnyside. Their testimony, especially that of the attendants, coincided m every defail. Notwithstanding that some questions asked took the witnesses ba«jk several months, their statement of time and dates were remarkably stereotyped and not m the least conflicting. Not one act of minor neglect or cruelty could be charged to the attendants. They were, according to their description of their, customary behavior towards, the patients, a surprisingly immaculate lot — so immaculate, m fact, that they might have been women rather th au men. The witnesses each told, of their own kindness i and their fellows' kindness towards the patients. Yet this Nightingaloan kindness .seems hardly reconcilable with the sample of .humanitarianism which was revealod at the trial of Attendant Chapman. It will bo remerabered that* Chapman brutally assaulted an inmate named &lcMeckin, causing injuries which resulted m his (McMeekin's) death. Evidencu at the trial went to show that although two other attendants close by saw Chapman savagely , kicking MoMeekui m the stomach they made no attempt to interfere, and, m fact, did not report the occurrence until some days afterwards. The fact that these attendants refrained front interfering with Chapman m his brutal assault on McMeckin affords ground for the belief that assaulter ou patients were not uncommon occurrences m thoV institution, whilst the fact of the assault not being reported for days afterwards further bears out that deduction. At the time of Chapman's trial certain passages of tho cvidcuco were respon&ible for the brick of public indignation being .forcibly hurled at the Sunnyside authorities, whose action m connection

with the inquest on McMeekin was, to say the least of it, inexplicable. At that time, Chapman was on his trial, and as it would have been rather out of the •/ourt's province to comment on the apparently lax administration exercised at Sunnyside, tho matter was allowed to stand over. » * ♦ | " Truth" anticipated, as did iftlso a large" proportion of the interested public, that dirty : linen would havo been made ono | of the chief subjects of the recent Royal Commitssion's "wash." But, no I The whole matter has blown over. Had it received th* inquiry and discussion it deserv. Ed, the report which tho Commissioner presented to Parliament last week would probably have • been less lengthy and decidedly ivnorc to the poii»t