ALLEGED MALINGERING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 945, 12 October 1910, Page 4

ALLEGED MALINGERING.

PRISONER BROUGHT TO -COURT* .-.; (By .Meffraph.—Press'AssociaUon.),.!--.. ; ,; V ' v Dunedin, October 11.. A somewhat unusual case. engaged: the !, attention' of Mr. Bartholomew, ■ S.M., in the Police' Court yesterday;and-to-day. A man named GeprgeEdward., Smith, ;at present undergoing - a of- four 'years'' imprisonment, was charged -with i pretending illness.from July 1 to September' 18.,; ■ Accused, who 'appeared .in - dock with a shield'over his eye, pleaded "Hot guilty;" ''■;■ ; '-i':' ; ; '• ;■;.'-■';: : ; : : ;-' : : '.v The; gaoler. (Mr. Soanlon) stated that Smith: had' been l sent from. Invercargill under .instructions from the Undersecretary; of Justice, that he was. to : . be examined as. to his eyesight. ' ;: He had been ' taken by Dr. Stenhouse;. to Dr. Lindo Ferguson,; and had hadl' his eyes .examined. Dr. Ferguson gave; evidence.'■■■'- to the egect that the dilation of the left eye was. due, in his opinion ,to the. use;6f a; drug. At the second examination the dilation had disappeared...': The sight of the eye'was; not totally gone. .'.;' . : i; ; r i. Dr. Stenhouse deposed that . prisoner' had told him that he had been.blind till .the,'age of three years, and witness" thon turned up prisoner's eyelid, ana showed 'that the lachrymal gland had been taken out. Dr. Ferguson's second examination confirmed witness' 6 first,; impression that there was no blindness at all, but that it was a-case of imposition.. The prisoner afterwards asked to be.put on labour,' but- witness declined to do this, waiting for instructions- from headquarters. ; : ..' .■'. '-. : .'•■' 'i'-' : '-': Prisoner made a long statement. ; He. said that, on Maroh H, at, Invercargill, he got chips of concrete in hiseyei and had been in Invercargill "Hospital;in bed for.weeks. The trouble went from the' left eye to the right, and he could see out of that only through v a mist. ,Ho had many times, when in hospital, asked to be put back to labour, which did not look hko malingering. He had never told Dr. Stenhouso of the beginning of tho trouble, and what Dr. Mac Donald had done in Invercargill, because the doctor would, not listen to him. .■;'-,.''.,, After further examination the magistrate adiourned the case till Friday. ;;