OBITUARY.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1926, Page 12

OBITUARY.

MR. JAMES MORRISON. The late Mr. James Morrison, of The Glen, Wakapuaka, Nelson, whose death took place two days ago, was for many years connected with the mental hospitals in New Zealand. Born in Aberdeenshire, he gained his knowledge of mental diseases under Dr. Storer Clouston, the famous Scotch alienist, at his hospital, Morningside. Coming to New Zealand in the 70’s, he started farming in Southland, but ill-health necessitated his return to the mental hospital. Tor some time he was under Dr. Truby King at Seacliff, Dunedin, from there he w-ent to Christchurch, and then to Po.-irua. In the ’eighties he was made superintendent of Nelson Asylum, which position he held until his resignation in 1901. Having previously purchased The Glen from Mr. Warnock, now of New Plymouth, he started farming there. ■ Mackay’s Bluff, as the place -was originally named, is historical. Owing to the fact that in a bay formed by the headlands of Mackay’s Bluff and Pippins Island, Hemi Matenga (Mrs. Julia Martin), the last chieftainess of the Wakapuaka Maoris, saved, ir. the ’sixties, the crew of the wrecked barque Delaware by swimming out to the vessel through a raging sea with rope, by which means the sailors were got ashore. A great friend of Mrs. Martin, Mr. Morrison could remember many of the anecdotes she told him of the early settlers in Nelson. For some years he was active in Farmers’ Union matters, and also chairman of the school committee in his district. A past Grand Master of the .Masonic fraternity, he had many friends, and his kindly disposition iiad endeared him to many of the relatives of patients who had passed through his hands. He leaves a widow, two daughters and five sons, four of whom served in the Great M ar.