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Manawatu Herald, 4 August 1898, Page 3

knew any anything about it, and she said it was caused when the deceased fell off the sofa just beforo he died ; I examined the body and there were no other marks upon it ; the father doea drink ; I arrested him on the 28th of May last for being drunk ; he was brought before Mr Fraser, J.P., the on 80th, and was convicted and discharged ; I have not seen him drunk since ; I have repeatedly seen Mrs Knapp of an evening outside hotels and in going in I have found Knapp inside ; I have never Been her the worse for liquor nor inside an hotel except when working in the kitchen. Alexander Bronte, being sworn, deposed— l am a legally qualified medical practitioner residing at Levin ; this afternoon I have mad a post mortem examination of a child of William Knapp's ; from this examination I believe the cause of death to be tubercula disease of the right lung, and there was tubercula disease of the pleura ; the brain was very anemic, the grey matter watery, the White Blatter was very friable ; the immediate cause of death was syncophy, the heart being filled with large blood clots; the stomach was empty and contracted, the walls soft and thickened and lined with a thick coating of mucous ; the small intestine empty, the large intestine loaded with faeces, the bladder distended with urine ; abdominal organs fairly healthy with the exception of the stomach; the apex of right lung infratrated with tuberculos, broken down here and there ; I should have said that both pleural cavities were filled with serus fluid ; the pericardium was adherent to the heart ; the child was not well nourished, it was ill-nourished ; it was very probable that with the oxception of feeling ill and weak the deceased would suffer no pain ; there was no disease of the intestines ; if the deceased had been taken to a doctor he could have ascertained what he was suffering from, but he possibly could have done nothing to have saved its life ; if the deceased had been taken to a doctor twelvemonths ago it is pro bable he might have lived longer. By the Constable— Last Sunday was not a day to take the deceased out ; there was no food on the stomach ; a child suffering is very apt to be capricious, but might have heen tempted with liquid nourish* ment ; Ido not think from appearances that the deceased could have had a good meal on Sunday. By the Foreman — The cause of death, tuberculosis, could have hastened death by want of food and care. The jury after a short deliberation returned the following verdict : — " That the deceased died ftom tuber culosis hastened by exposure and want of nourishment in accordance with the doctor's evidence."