BUNNYSIDE INQUIRY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13191, 27 September 1913, Page 4

BUNNYSIDE INQUIRY.

SENSATIONAL' 'STATEMENTS

(Per/ Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, , last \\\%Y\. The /Sunny side Mental Hospita I • inquiry t was continued itr-day before the Ooipmissioner, Mr V. G. Day.

"Mrs C. C. < Tribe, widow of th-Watc tYibe, gave evidence 'that hi*', husband Was committed to the Mental, hospital on January 30i She went to -see him about March 1 *A\\„ went --gain £i*<*piently afterwards. From tho first "she found him man untidy state. On her second visit she found him suffering froni a black eye, and again on a later visit she Spoke to one of the attendants and was told that one of the pitients iiad _oh'e it. She spoke to Dr Go\\\ who seotned very callous on the matter. Her fettsband complained of the way he was knocked about. . Physically, "hey husband was very well when he went into the hospital His feet got very bad. and on one occasion he was wearing a shoe m which, a nail projected into his heel, •drawing blood. Sho asked him why, he •did-' not speak to the doctor, but ho said iV was no good. She saw her hush md a week before he died and he was then very thin. She saw him again a few days afterwards and he was then m a dreadful state. One of his legs was badly swollen, so much so that the stuekii*,-*; \tbuld hardly come off. She spoke to an attendant about the state of her husband, and saw Dr Ramsbottom, who said he had heard nothing previously about il» One Saturday she went to see her husband • and found ; - him m a celltold and miserable. He was m a dreadful state and could hardly speak. He "Was very weak:. There was nothing m the room and it was cold and comfortless. It was dreadful -for one used to refinement to be shut up m such: a "place. He could not move and had to W propped up to take soipe tea she had b*rouß.ht. fie. said he could not- drink the tea supplied nor eat the bread. With such treatment as. her* husband had received no one could possibly get, better. O.i the Friday morning, befote his death witness telegraphed to the djoctor as to tho state of hef husband's health, and was told that he. was. slightly improving. , When she saw hint next day>. however, he was much worse; arid died— on the Monday morning, having first been taken home.

John Thornton said that when he visited deceased one foot was bandaged. Above . ,the • bapdage. the. leg j, was. green to the knee and. swollen. It was all the more remarkable because the rest of the. body was 'so wasted. Witness thought it was some "hurt that had caused the wound -on the toe, but he would not swear to this. It appeared to witness that when deceased was up at the asylum he was. more fit for ah infirmary than a. gaol. On resuming after the luncheon, adjournment* the cases, of Lewis Allan GOurla.yand Daniel Herlihy were taken. Mv Davey, M.P., conducted the cases. Gourlay, one of the patients m ques\ion, stated that he had" been at Sunnyside" for some months. On several occasions he liad. seen an old man najned Herliby hit over the head with keys by attendants. In some cases this was •done purely as amusement. Some of the attendants treated patients well, others very badly. Many times when the old man was sitting before the fire quite harmless and quiet some of the attendants would, come and irritate him until lv*- became a nuisance, and then they would ill-treat him.

Witness quoted the .case of,. a patient who was forced to go, out to work. His arms were twisted round and his head forced back to induce him to go out to work. When he got out: he refused to work, a.nd one attendant felled him and then kicked him about. When he got up they, said, "Will you go to work?'* He said he would not, and they then repeated the operations . When lie got up they asked him again if he would go to wock, v ai*d. he r said, "No-" The. attendants 'treated him again to the sapie punishment. At length the man went to work. He was then partly stunned, and did not know what he was doing. Afterwards the patient became very . ill. Concerning his own case, witness said that for three weekte he had to "eat- his meals close to the hospital sanitary conveniences. The bedding supplied to him on the first night was so filthy that. he could not sleep m it. He remonstrated, and was given some new bedding, but the soiled blankets were left', a-hd he had to use them for over four months, being told that .hew blankets were given out only once every six months. The sheets were changed once a week, and his room was kept tolerably clean. On one occasion he was locked m a closet by an attendant because he was late for a meal. There were six towels provided for- about sixty patients, and they got m a dreadful condition. , '

Evidence m rebuttal was then given. Dr. Orchard referred to; Howe's case j and said Howe was a very old man for , his years, and was suffering' from senile, insanity, and was so broken down that -J he did. not seem.' to have long to live./ On that account he suggested to his re- 1 latives that they,,shpuld .retain, him and induced the relatives to take the' old man home again., ' A. month 'after ' h© • was again summoned to examine tbe old man, and he, ,was told, that he was. ber coming, dangerous aiid troublesbmew With Di*. Penjyick; he gave, an order.'* He had ho reason to believe that the old man would not be properly taken "care of at the hospital; Regarding the Tribe case, Dr.. Orchard said that on June 23 . he, received a message that Mr Tribe was dying, and that his wife" wanted -him to die under his own.rpof.; He could not, however,, bo removed from the hospital . without the assistance of an outside, medical man. He saw Dr. Gow, and. arranged to have the patient removed. Mr' Tribe was then unconscious, and m an emaciated condition, and died shortly after arriving home. When he s_w the patient on the bed he was well covered with an of blankets, and be had a hot water bottle ; also, he examined the body after death, and found it clean, with : no bruises. There was a bandage round one of the logs. Acute , mania lasting any time would produce emaciation. The foot itself was completely bandaged, but the leg was all right.* With the exception of a soft swelling m one place there was no discoloration m the leg, although one \yould expect some discoloration to occur as the , result of post mortem changes. s ' Th©. inquiry . will be resumed on Monday. I