THE SKIN-GRAFTING CASE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9383, 9 March 1898, Page 2

THE SKIN-GRAFTING CASE.

The N.Z. Herald, referring to the skingrafting case at Auckland, in which judgment was given against the young lady, says: The generous sacrifice which she had rendered under the impulse of Christian humanity , and the idea that advantage had been taken of her simplicity and her r want of technical knowledge as to the extent of the sacrifice, had elicited warm sympathy in her favour ; while on the other hand the delay which had. oc6urred in bringing the oase to trial, and the" fact that she had voluntarily offered to make the sacrifice, and might in consequence be presumed to be prepared to bear the full ' consequences, tended to produce the im- • pression that she had no right to redress. Now that the whole case has been t unravelled in the Supreme Court, we do not hesitate to say that there will be profound " and general dissatisfaction with the denouement. It may not be that the actual terms of the verdict will be so much impugned. The plaintiff may not be held to have been entitled to pecuniary recompense for a sacrifice which Bhe voluntarily tendered, but there are other consequences arising out of this trial of much more - > seriou3 import than the loss of damages, and such as this young girl should not have been oalled upon to bear. Of one thing the public mind is fully seized, and that is that she was not aware of the extent of the suffering she was about to undergo, and that it was the duty of.the^ - operator to have fully informed her of the " extent of that suffering before she was ■ put under chloroform. . . . We trust that the public will take the opportunity of giving expressioato their repudiation of ' the attack that has been made on the character of an innocent and noble-minded girl, who, even if we are to suppose her to havo been mistaken, has done nothing to show that she has not been actuated by the highest principles of truth and honour. ' Few things have ocourred in Auckland calculated more to move the indignation of every just and generous mind, or to prompt a chivalrous desire to repel, and if, possible to redress, what to many wil" ' appear as a gross wrong.