XLIII

H.—l9b

With regard to Pollard, Sister Hanna says he was very weak when he arrived, and that he came with a high temperature —" it may not have been quite as high as 101." Sister Faram says it was 101-8. that it varied and went down to 101, and that it was 102-2 on the Monday. It is not possible to cheek the temperature figures because the charts kept were destroyed as infected material when Berhampore was closed. Sister Hanna thinks she first came to the conclusion he was dangerously ill about the Sunday. "It may have been the Monday or the Tuesday "; but when he did get so ill the sisters took it in turns to nurse so as to be in attendance day and night. They were in the habit of sending patients who took a bad turn to the Wellington Hospital, having had a discretion given to them to do so. As neither Pollard nor Fordham was sent there, the suggestion made was that both ought to have been. It is not clear on what day Dr. Harrison noticed the rise in temperature. It was probably not before Monday, the 28th, because on that date Private Solomon, after inquiries, telegraphed in the afternoon to the latter's brother, "John in Berhampore Hospital with pneumonia—not serious." Dr. Elliott states that at request he paid two visits to Pollard on the 28th. On Tuesday, the 29th, at 2.50 p.m., a telegram was sent by Dr. Harrison from Trentham Camp to the man's mother, " Your son, J. W. Pollard, dangerously ill at Berhampore Hospital, Wellington." The brother arrived from Christchurch on Wednesday morning, and was told at Berhampore that Pollard was very seriously ill, and then saw him. "He was sometimes conscious and sometimes delirious." On the evening of Wednesday, the 30th, Dr. Steele visited both Pollard and Fordham at Dr. Harrison's request. Dr. Steele says that when he saw them they were both nearly gone—not on the point of death, but in a very bad way. He gave the sister instructions for the night about treatment. He says, " I asked why the men were there. I thought they ought not to have been there." The brother was not satisfied with the condition of things, and, through the Hon. Mr. Rhodes, arranged for a consultation on Thursday afternoon between Dr. Harrison and Dr. Herbert. Dr. Herbert told the brother the case was practically hopeless. Pollard died the next.day, Friday, about 1 o'clock. With regard to Fordham, he is said not to have had a high temperature when he came in, but got worse about Tuesday night. On the Wednesday he seemed worse, and Sister Keith telegraphed to his relatives. He died at 10 o'clock on Friday morning. Fordham informed apparently two of the sisters (Sisters Hanna and Faram) that the doctor had given him the option of going to the Wellington Hospital, but he declined. It is not clear what doctor this was. Dr. Harrison visited both daily at Berhampore, except on the Friday night, when Dr. McCaw attended. Dr. Harrison says, "I. saw them [Pollard and Fordham] one day when their temperatures were up, and I considered that if they were not better next day 1 would shift them to the Wellington Hospital. . . . The next day they were markedly worse, and I considered it would be very dangerous to shift them. ... I considered the nursing, plus the medical instruction to the nurses, was absolutely all that one could do in such a condition, and that the nursing they got there was such as they could not have got elsewhere." Later he says, " They could have been shifted the second day, but I considered it would have been detrimental to their chances if I did shift them. They were in a condition to be shifted, but it was taking a risk."

THE CASE OF PRIVATE COLLEY. Private Colley was sent to Berhampore as a convalescent about the 3rd June. He was apparently getting on all right, but was taken ill about midday on the 10th June, was sent to the Wellington Hospital that evening, and died on the following day. The father complains that a doctor was not called in at once on Colley becoming unwell. The evidence of Sister Keith, who was on day duty at the time, is to the effect that on the 10th June he had been playingcards in the ward in the morning, and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon (one nurse says at noon) he came to her complaining of feeling very cold. His temperature was taken and found subnormal. He was put to bed. In the evening, on Sister Faram coming on duty, she took his temperature, and found it to be 1036. The sister had him sent to the Wellington Hospital in the ambulance. She states that this was between 0 and 7 o'clock. We are satisfied that this is a mistake. It was about 9 when he was brought to the hospital. He died at 10.15 p.m. On the following day. The evidence of Sergeant Yallop would seem to differ from the foregoing. He speaks of having got the Health Department to send a doctor at 9.30 one morning, and Dr. Clay came; but this seems to have been while Dr. Purdy was in Dunedin. That was before the 6th June. On that date Colley wrote a letter to his father stating that he was pretty, well all right, and. he