H.—4o

1885. NEW ZEALAND.

KUMARA HOSPITAL INQUIRY (REPORT OF COMMISSION).

Return to an Order of the House of Representatives, dated 16th September, 1885. Ordered, " That there be laid before this House a copy of the report of the Commissioners recently appointed to inquire into the conduct of the Kumara Hospital Committee and the medical officer of that institution."—(Me. GUINNESS.)

The Commissionees, Kumara Hospital Inquiry, to the Hon. the Colonial Seoketaey. Sib,— Hokitika, 10th August, 1885. We have the honour to submit our report upon the matters mentioned in your letter of the 10th July ultimo, requesting us to hold an inquiry into the circumstances which attended the appointment of Dr. Monckton as Surgeon-Superintendent of the Kumara Hospital, the termination of his engagement, and the appointment of his successor. After due notice to Dr. Monckton and the Hospital Committee, we commenced the inquiry on Friday evening, the 7th instant, at 7 o'clock, after the conclusion of the Warden's Court. Our sittings occupied that evening and the whole of the following day from 10 a.m. to 9 o'clock p.m. Notes of the evidence taken are forwarded herewith. We now proceed to give our opinion on the matters referred to us, with the exception of the circumstances attending the appointment of Dr. Monckton, concerning which nothing has been brought under our notice, nor has any question ever been raised except as to the legal interpretation of the agreement entered into with him, and that has already been made the subject of litigation. The subject-matter of our investigation, as disclosed by the papers and evidence put before us, seems to resolve itself into three divisions : First, the. dismissal of Dr. Monckton ; secondly, the manner of conducting the election of the new Committee in January ; and, thirdly, the appointment of Dr. Davy, and the nature of his engagment. Firstly : Dr. Monckton alleges that the true cause of his dismissal was the private malice entertained against him by Mr. Henry Burger, an active member of the Committee. The cause of this malice is alleged to be that Dr. Monckton struck off Mr. Burger's name from the medical list of the Odd Fellows' Society, and Dr. Monckton goes on to assume that this step aroused the implacable hostility of Mr. Burger, who at last succeeded, by his efforts and influence with others, in prevailing so far upon the rest of the Committee that a majority of that body was ready to go all lengths in procuring the dismissal of the doctor, without any regard to right or justice. Of this extreme and apparently not very probable allegation strong proof ought to be adduced, but of its truth we find no evidence whatever, and we see no reason for believing it. We have not found any difficulty in forming an opinion upon the true cause of the undoubtedly strong feeling of hostility which the majority of the Committee entertained towards Dr. Monckton. We think the cause is unquestionably to be found in the language and demeanour of Dr. Monckton towards the members of the Committee themselves, whereby he managed deeply to offend them, and partly in complaints and statements which reached them from various quarters of similar language and demeanour towards subscribers and patients. Mr. Burger, who was deputed by the Committee to represent that body, was very desirous to call the evidence of numerous persons to prove the offensive demeanour of the doctor towards them on various occasions. This evidence, however, after giving the matter the fullest consideration, we decided could not be admitted. The complaints had never been formally brought before the Committee nor under the notice of the doctor, and we judged it to be unfair to him to permit such charges to be gone into now, when many months had elapsed and it would be impossible for him to satisfactorily refute them. We felt that we could not deal specifically with such complaints, that every fresh statement made by each witness would open up new matter for inquiry, that the investigation would be well-nigh interminable, and the result altogether unsatisfactory. For these reasons, although we were reluctant to shut out anything which the Committee so much wished to press, we considered that the only complaints of incivility or offensive conduct on the part of the doctor that we could listen to would be either such as concerned members of the Committee personally, or such as had at some time been brought before the Committee and under notice of the doctor. We considered that what we had chiefly to determine on this head was the question