The Hastings Standard Published Daily. MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1896. "MENTAL WORRY."

Hastings Standard, Issue 102, 24 August 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1896. "MENTAL WORRY."

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The application of the member for "Wallace for leave of absence for the remainder of the session on account of ill-health appears to have roused the purity section of the House. This small coterie by their tactics endeavored to cast a reflection on a member of Parliament, notwithstanding that the application for leave of absence was supported by the certificates of two medical men. The doctors certified that Mr Mackintosh was suffering from bronchial affection and "mental worry." The interjection of " Oh " when the Premier read Dr Collins's certificate was intended to signify a good deal. Mr Mackintosh is not the most fastidious man in the world in the choice of his meat and drink, and if occasionally he should make a mistake in the quantity and quality of the liquids lie swallows, he is more to be pitied than condemned fo* his inferior appetite. But on the present occasion the member for "Wallace was not suffering from any misdirection of appetite, for we have it on the certificates of two doctors that bronchial affection and mental worry had prostrated him, and it was on the advice of the medical men that leave for the remainder of the session was asked. It seems singular that the present notoriously sober |2oase should seek

to discredit a member of Parliament, and that, too, on the eve of a general election. The act may be the freak of purity, but nevertheless it is revolting. The House seemed not to appreciate the fact that Mr Mackintosh -was suffering from mental worry. Why the House should be doubtful on this point is difficult to understand, unless it is assumed that the member for Wallace having no brains could not suffer mental agony; but this assumption must go by the board, for two competent medical men attest to the fact that he is suffering from mental worry. The medical evidence is more reliable than the airy assumption of the House, and the member for Wallace may console himself with the fact that two doctors have certified to his possessing brains, the tissues of which have been agitated by the storm of politics. The contention of the Premier that Mr Mackintosh would reeeive better attention in his own home than he could get at any lodging-house is unanswerable, and it is this home nursing that one of the doctors recommended which strengthens the position for Mr Mackintosh, who, we trust, will speedily recover from his present illness. His chances of recovery are increased by his returning to his own home.