67

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161. Have you any reason to suppose that there are any shortcomings in any direction ?— ; I have not. 162. There is one boy at the hospital: what is the matter with him?— Yes, Sullivan. He is suffering from acute bone disease. It is possibly hereditary. 163. Have you ever heard any complaints as to the insufficiency of clothes or food, or of bad treatment ?—Never. 164. Have there been any deaths there during the last two years or more?— Since I have been medical officer there have been no deaths among the boys. 165. They are not very profitable patients?— Not to me. 166. Mr. Harley.] I suppose the boys do not say much to you ?—Yes; I have asked them how they were getting on, and about their treatment in the institution. I have done that frequently. 167. They would tell you " All right," I suppose?— Yes. Certainly their answers were very favourable to the institution. 168. I suppose there has to be a considerable want of both clothing and food before boys begin to show it—that is, it must be long continued ?—lt depends upon the constitution to a great extent. Some would go under far more quickly on low diet than others. 169. In ordinary practice do you find many children suffering from the want of clothes and food ?—No. 170. I suppose there are some not overfed or overclothed? —Yes; there are some in Nelson, certainly. 171. Still, it does not appear to affect their health?—" Well, ill-feeding and bad clothes must affect the health. 172. Mr. Wardell.] Long-continued short-feeding and bad clothes would affect the health ?— Yes; of course, there would be emaciation. 173. Mr. Harley.] Short-feeding and bad clothes must be carried to a considerable extent before it makes itself manifest ?—Quite so. 174. Have you been at the institution during the night on professional visits during the last two years ?—Not that I can remember at present. 175. You have heard of the mustard treatment prescribed : is that your prescription?— No. 176. What would be the effect of giving a boy a teaspoonful or a dessertspoonful in a cup of water? —It acts as an emetic. 177. Do you use it in your own practice ?—ln cases of poisoning it is a handy thing to have. 178. When you want to make some one violently sick ?—Yes. « 179. Mr. Wardell.] Do you use it in your general practice for headaches, &c?—No, I do not, as a rule. 180. You think it is injurious ?—Oh, I will not say that. 181. Mr. Harley.] Have you ever taken it yourself ?—No; I have never had occasion to. I have had great experience with mustard, and never knew of any ill-effects except that of being sick. 182. It causes a severe burning sensation inside, does it not?— When I have given mustard as an emetic, the patients have never complained of the burning. 183. Mr. Bush.] Perhaps you use it in cases of poisoning ?—Yes; usually. 184. Mr. Harley.] Do I gather from you that it is a violent emetic ?—Yes. Well, violent is rather too strong a term to use. It is an emetic. 185. The violence, I suppose, depends upon the quantity of mustard used ?—Not always. It depends upon the person. 186. The Stoke district is a healthy locality, is it not?— Well, yes; fairly healthy. The majority of the Stoke residents belong to a lodge, of which I am surgeon, and I am very seldom called upon to attend any of them—once or twice a month, perhaps. It is a healthy locality so far as I am concerned. 187. Mr. Fell.] Would you not expect to find some result from continued ill-feeding and olothing ?—Most certainly. 188. Did you see any such signs among the boys at the Stoke School?—I did not. 189. Have they suffered from any phthisical or lung disorder during the last two years ?— No. During the whole of the time that I have attended the institution there was only one boy, and he was in the first stage of consumption. That was probably constitutional. 190. Do you consider the practice of giving boys mustard-and-water, followed by castor-oil, a reasonable or blameworthy practice ?—Well, it is better to use mustard when you know its action than to use a patent medicine the action of which you know nothing. Sometimes I have gone to a boy of the school who was ill, and, on being told by Brother Finian that he had administered mustard-and-water, I have asked the boy how he felt, and he has said, " I am much better to-day." No mustard has ever been ordered by myself. The boys seemed to thrive upon it. 191. Have you ever suggested that it is an improper remedy?—No; I did not know it was used generally. In the special cases lam speaking of it did not do any harm. 192. Mr. Wardell.] Have you seen anything in the institution to lead you to consider that the boys generally were suffering from short feeding or clothing?— No. 193. You have never seen or observed anything to lead you to suppose they were so suffering ?—No. 194. Mr. Bush.] If you were called in to see a boy suffering from headache, would you prescribe mustard? —It would all depend on the cause of the headache. I would have to diagnose the case. If it arose from overfeeding, an emetic would not hurt. 195. Supposing you were called in to see my child, who had a headache, would you prescribe mustard ?—No.