MENTAL HOSPITALS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 108, 31 January 1935, Page 2

MENTAL HOSPITALS

Receiver of Revenue Retires It was announced yesterday that Mr. Arthur T. Wells, receiver of revenue, Mental Hospitals Department, will retire on superannuation from the Public Service to-day, after over 40 years’ service. He joined the department in 1890 as a member of the clerical staff, and was first stationed at the Mount View Hospital, Wellington, which has since been replaced by the Porirua Mental Hospital. Mount View Hospital was closed in 1910, and Mr. Wells was transferred to the head office, Wellington, as receiver. For the past 19 year? it has been his duty to examine the estates of mental patients in all parts of New Zealand. Under the law the estates of mental patients automatically come under the control of the Public Trustee, and this naturally necessitates co-operation between the two departments. It has been the duty of Mr. Wells to interview the relatives of patients in regard to maintenance and the like, a duty requiring tact and anility. The value of Mr. Wells’s services has been acknowledged by the Public Trustee, and large numbers of relatives of patients have in the wannest terms expressed their appreciation of the kindness and courtesy shown to them by Mr. Wells. In a statement yesterday, Dr. T. G. Gray, Director-General Mental Hospitals Department, said that by the departure of Mr. Wells, the State loses an officer of the type which reflects the highest possible credit upon the Public Service of the Dominion. “Mr. Wells.” he added, “has carried out a very difficult task with great sympathy and delicacy and an entire absence of friction. His absence will be regretted, not only by his associates in the Public Service, but by a very large circle of patients’ friends, to whom he has been a real friend in time of trouble, and not merely a State official.”