The Wellington Asylum Case.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 337, 6 May 1881, Page 2

The Wellington Asylum Case.

The special correspondent of the Press sends the following to that journal:— Two sureties have at length been found for Whitelaw, the late superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum. The sureties, it is said, will be Messrs "Soung and W. V. Jackson, a member of the Harbor Board, each in Ll5O. The proceedings relative to Mrs Kettle’s salary as matron, alleged to have been received by Whitelaw and not accounted for, will now drop, Mrs Kettle having today signed a document giving a full discharge for the same. Accordingly Whitelaw will now only stand committed for trial on a charge of cruelty to a patient, and bail being forthcoming, he will in all probability be released from gaol tomorrow. There is a decided revulsion of public feeling in his favor, owing entirely to a sense of unfairness in Drs Skae and France escaping scot free, while Whitelaw is degraded and imprisoned. The other threatened Asylum prosecutions will fall through, the Crown Prosecutor having advised that there is no case for a jury. I learn, on good authority, that the Government have not yet decided on their course of action in regard to the Inspector of Lunatic Asylums. Dr Skae’s full reply to the report of the Royal Commission on Mount View Asylum has at length been received, but there has not yet been time for the Cabinet to take it into full consideration. It is believed, however, that the matter will come before the Cabinet at an early date, probably tomorrow; but it is thought that the weight of feeling in the Ministry is favorable, on the whole, to Dr Skae’s retaining office.