DEAD OFFICER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20374, 3 July 1934, Page 13

DEAD OFFICER.

Allegation of Callous

Treatment

SYDNEY DISCLOSURES. (Special to the “ Star.”) SYDNEY, June 29, On March 27, a Coroner’s inguest was held into the death of LieutenantCommander Alan Casey, R.A.X. The verdict was that Casey died from carbon monoxide poisoning, having inhaled coal gas while temporarily deranged. Dr Collins, who had been a R.A X. i medical adviser, and is now president j ot the 8.M.A., expressed the view that j Casey’s recent dismissal from the Navy had preyed upon his mind. The Coroner (Mr Farrington, S.M.D made this singularly heartless comment: “ It, as an officer of the Navy, he had received a sudden shock, he should have been man enough to stand up to it,” and the verdict of suicide was duly recorded. But there was a great deal behind the inquest and the verdict that had not yet been brought to light, and Casey’s relations and friends are determined that the whole of the facts shall be revealed. At the inquest a large amount of information concerning Casey’s life and career in the Navy was given by Donald M’Kenzie, a retired lieutenantcommander of the R.A.N. and one of Casey's oldest and most intimate friends. Casey entered Jervis Bay College in 1916, when he was only thirteen years old. (He was thirtyone years old when he died, and he had thus spent the intervening eighteen 3'ears —the whole of his life—in j close association with the Navy and i naval work.) “ Pick of the Nation.” When he entered the college he had to pass a searching examination as to physical and mental fitness, and coming through this successfully, he was officially recognised as belonging to “ the pick of the nation.” He graduated in 1919, and in due course passed “ with distinction ” to the rank of lieutenant. In 1928 he was selected to go Home to Portsmouth for a course of special training in signalling and wireless telegraphy. He passed this course with so much credit that he was sent on to Greenwich for a more advanced course at the Royal Nava! College, and here, too, he was remarkably successful. But the prolonged strain of these studies and his constant devotion to his duties affected his health, and in 1930, finding that the naval authorities were making reductions in personnel, he offered to resign. But the Naval Board declined to accept his resignation on the ground that he had proved himself to be an officer of more than average capacity, and that his retirement would be a loss to the service. Health Grew Worse. In 1931 Casey was placed in charge of the Signal School at Flinders Naval Depot, and in 1932 he was promoted lieutenant-commander and appointed to a squadron. But in 1933 his health grew worse and he fell a victim to insomnia. Dr Collins, the well-known Macquarie Street sjnecialist. who was then medical adviser +o tb - ?■ v

commended that he be given light •duties for a month. In the following November, Dr Collins examined Casey again and testified at the inquest that he regarded him as completely recovered. He could find no trace of organic disease and the neurotic condition which Dr Collins attributed entirely to the prolonged strain of overwork and responsibility—had entirely disappeared. Yet in November the Naval Board notified Casey that he was to be invalided from the RA.N. on the ground that he was “ below naval physical standard.” “ On the Scrap Heap.”

For the fpur remaining months of his life, Casey endeavoured constantly to persuade the Naval Board to grant him a “ re-survey ” —that is, another medical examination. But they refused absolutely, and so the unfortunate young man, driven to desperation by the knowledge that, after a life spent in the service of his country, he was “ thrown upon the scrap heap,” finally put an end to an existence that had become to him intolerable.

It may be pointed out here that the naval authorities and the Federal Minister of Defence, Sir George Brasseybam, tried to make capital out of the fact that Casey was not turned out penniless. • He received nearly £IOOO in deferred pay and pay in lieu of leave of absence. But all this he had earned and he got no compensation for dismissal, whereas, if he had been permitted to resign when he wished in 1930, he would have received compensation as well. But Casev was concerned not with the pecuniary side of, the question, but with his consciousness that he had spent his life to -no purpose and that his- superiors insisted that his alleged inability to “carry on ” was due not to over-strain but to “ constitutional causes.” All these things combined played upon his mind and hurried him to his tragic end. According to his life-long friend M’Kenzie, the only trouble he had was the heartbreak due to being scrapped, and this view of the case was largely confirmed b} r Dr Collins, who had reported him thoroughly recovered in the very

month in which he was discharged, and could find no trace of the constitutional weakness put forward as a pretext for his dismissal. Bitter Opinions. Naturally his relations hold strong and bitter opinions about the case and his sister has addressed a most pathetic letter to the Naval Secretary demanding an investigation. Of course, everybody interested in Casey’s fate feels that he should not be allowed to rest under this stigma of unfitness, after giving so many proofs of efficiency, and that the events leading up to his death should be fully disclosed. So strong has the agitation grown that Sir G. Pearce has thought it necessary to make a public statement on the matter, in which, as in duty bound, he supports his departmentaf officials and the Naval Board. But there is nothing in Sir G. Pearce’s statement to explain why, immediately after Dr Collins had found Casey fully recovered, with no trace of organic weakness, the Naval Medical Board discovered that he was constitutionally unfit and discharged him. m Another aspect of the case is put by “ The Bulletin ” in very convincing form—“ if Casey was not found medically unfit by the Naval Board, why was be discharged? If he was found medically unfit, why was he not compensated ? ”

The Minister cannot easily evade this dilemma, and the efforts made by the “ Bulletin,” “ Smith’s Weekly ” and other newspapers have produced an insistent demand for a searching inquiry into the matter.

Last week Casey’s parents, through their solicitors, addressed to the Prime Minister a request for a Royal Commission to inquire into the reasons for “ <-he excessively harsh and unsympathetic treatment by the Department of Defence of a brilliant naval officer.” But apart from the injustice which Casey seems to have suffered, it is rightly claimed that this matter is one of national importance. For “if an officer with an unimpeachable record is to be arbitrarily retired without compensation on the ground of physical incapacity, against the recommendation of responsible medical experts,” then no officer, whatever his rank or capacity, can ever feel safe, and the morale ” of the national defence services will be completely destroyed.