H.—l

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died—in fact, it was at her death-bed that I made up my mind—that her case should be made public, and that nothing on earth should prevent me from making it public. 70. And thereupon you wrote that letter to the Trustees which I have just read ? —Yes. 71. Did you see Mr. Miller and speak to him with reference to the publication of that letter? — I did. I called on him and showed him the letter, explained to him the facts which I was determined to have made public, and said if there were any modifications in that letter which he wished to be made, if they were consistent with truth, I should be perfectly willing to make them. Mr. Miller replied that lie had no objection to the letter. Then 1 asked him if he had any objection to it being sent in on my own account, or if the Trustees would rather have it sent in through the medical staff. He thought that I should send it in myself, and thereupon I took on myself to send it in. I may add with regard to this letter that I saw the chairman of the medical staff (Dr. Coughtrey), mentioned the case to him, and told him what 1 contemplated doing. I asked him if I should send it in myself or if it would be better that I should send it through the staff. He said, in reply, that so long as I was prepared to bear the brunt of it he knew of no reason why I should not send it in myself. I therefore determined to send it in myself. 72. And thereupon you did send it in to the Trustees ? —I did. 73. And no doubt the present inquiry is the result ? —No doubt.

Thursday, 21st August, 1890. Dr. Batcheloe's examination continued. 74. Mr. Solomon.] When we left off yesterday I was asking you a question about your letter of complaint which you made to Mr. Miller ? —Which letter do you speak of ? 75. I mean your letter of the 22nd July. By-the-by, was there a post-mortem examination held in the case of Mrs. S ?—Perhaps I had better explain the circumstances. 76. We will get at them presently ; but just answer my questions now. Was there a postmortem held?— There was. 77. At whose request was it held?—At mine. The Chairman : Is it the letter marked No. 2 that you are referring to now? Mr. Solomon : No ; the last letter. Mr. Chapman : The letter which we call the complaint. 78. Mr. Solomon.} Do you say that the post-mortem was held at your request ? —Yes ; I made the request, at any rate. 79. Did you ask for an inquiry into the circumstances of the woman's death first, or did you ask for a post-mortem examination first ?—I purposely wrote the letter to Mr. Miller first, asking for an inquiry. It was in the afternoon that I sent in my complaint, and on the same evening, at a meeting of the Trustees, I told them that I thought a post-mortem should be made officially, and should be made at once. 80. But the point I want to know is whether or not it was before the post-mortem that you asked for an inquiry ?—I had asked for an inquiry before that. 81. I now come to your complaints against this Hospital. In the first place, yon heard the statement of your counsel in opening his case of what you complain ?—I should like to have a copy of it. 82. You make two complaints—first, " that there are defects in the sanitary condition of the Dunedin Hospital; " and that " these defects are of so serious a nature as to be a source of grave danger to the inmates, and call for immediate remedy." Do you make these complaints against the Hospital? —I certainly rlo. 83. Will you tell us, first of all —it may save time—whether you agree with the statement of your counsel as to what these defects are —viz., " faulty construction, improper ventilation, overcrowding, improper position of closets, bath-rooms, &c, want of kitchens and ward-rooms, absence of special wards for special cases." Do you agree with that ? —I do. 84. We will take each of these points separately. If you have made any notes you are at liberty to use them for the purpose of refreshing your memory. Will you tell us the respects in which you complain that the construction of the Hospital is defective ?—ln the first place, it was never built for a hospital, and in a great many respects it is not fit for a hospital. The wards—l am taking them in their order of importance as far as I can —are far too small for economical working, and I think that that is most important. And I should say here that you cannot, with any degree of safety, put more than twelve patients in a ward. According to the authorities twelve is expensive, because you have to employ the same, or nearly the same, number of nurses with twelve patients as with twenty-four. Perhaps that may be a little beyond the mark ; but you would almost want the same number. 85. The Chairman.] How many beds do the wards contain now?—At present there are fifteen beds in a ward. 86. I understand you to mean that a proportion of twelve is wanted, and that the number you have is fifteen ? —We have fifteen at present. Ido not think that you should put more than twelve beds in these wards with safety. 87. Then you consider that fifteen is crowded, and that twelve would not be crowded, but would not fully occupy the nurses?— Twelve would not be crowded. 88. Mr. Solomon'^] In the present condition of the Hospital, how many patients can safely be put in the wards —that is, assuming, of course, that it is safe to put anybody there ?—I do not think that there should even be more than ten beds^ but it is rather difficult to answer a question like that, because it altogether depends on the sanitary state of the hospital.