DISTRESSING SUICIDE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2373, 29 December 1921, Page 3

DISTRESSING SUICIDE.

AN EX-SERVICE MAN

Ashburton, Last Night. A suicide under most distressing circumstances took place at Riverside, on December 26th. The deceased, Fan MeMaster, aged 52, was for some time caretaker at the Acclimatisation Reserve at Hakatere, but since then he had lived with his wife and family in extreme poverty. Deceased had, on several occasions, threatened to take his own and his wife’s life. A self-inflicted wound with a razor above the left' elbow was the cause of death. A letter to a young son regarding the disposal of various articles was written by the deceased on the back of aJetfer from the editor of the Christchurch Star, complimenting him on winning the second prize in the Star’s com;, z petition with Ihe poem “The Bridge of Remembrance.” District Coroner .James Cow conducted an inquest yesterday. The evidence showed that Me Master had served for nine months in the European War, and after home service since his return, lie was subject to repeated fits of depression. The coroner returned a verdict that deceased died from a self-inflicted wound while suffering from bad health and depression. He added a rider that a service man in his anxiety for the welfare and health of his wife and family should not have been allowed by his country, which he had faithfully served, and whose end was, according to the evidence, brought about by bad health, to live and die under conditions of extreme poverty.