PETITION REFUSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 178, 18 October 1927, Page 9

PETITION REFUSED

SOLDIER MENTAL PATIENT “UNRELIABLE STATEMENTS” ( THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Monday. The Defence Committee of the House reported on the petition of A. R. Box, of Port Chalmers, praying for reatress and compensation on account «pf alleged wrongful detention in a mental hospital at fcSeacliff, Otago. The committee reported that it had given th*e case of petitioner sei'ious consideration, and that it had no recommendation to make. fc?ir Maui Poraare said he had had a good deaP to do with cases such as these after fcbeir return from the war. On account pi their services, it had been decided* that they should be treated in the but that their names should noA appear on the books. They had also i*een kept away from the other patients- A large percentage of them rec\ jvere< b Mr. J. A. Lee, Auckland East, who as a wounded solder came back on the same hospital as petitioner, said it was true that x'Ome of the patients were kept in a ci\ge. but the reason for that was thaC some had the idea thUt they could swim to New Zealand. From persomtl observation he could say that petitioner's statements were most unreliab\e. The Minister of Justice. Hon. F. J. Rolleston, said such patieYits as the petitioner had received th%‘ utmost consideration. A judge had submitted a written report on this particU* ar case, and had stated that the petitioner was not entitled to anything in the • way of compensation.

The report of the committee* was adopted.