UNACCOUNTABLE ECCENTRICITIES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1156, 25 March 1884, Page 3

UNACCOUNTABLE ECCENTRICITIES.

The eccentricities of some people pass all comprehension, particularly when they take the form of neglecting to provide themselves with the ordinary comforts of life, though possessed of ample means to do so. But from the day of the miserly Smith, who lived in wretchedness in a house m the Seven Dials though possessed of property worth £400,000, to the present time there have been frequently recurring instances cf persons leading secluded lives, and not only neglecting their personal comforts to an almost incredible extent, but violating every sanitary law. We have before us the details of a singular case of this sort which was brought to light at Soutksea. A retired Custom House officer, in the receipt of a pension of a hundred a year, it is said, and possessed of considerable house property, has been living in a most deplorable way since both he and his wife became unable to go out of doors. Some weeks ago the latter met with an accident, which disabled her, and as her husband could not walk owing to dropsy in the lege, food has been obtained, it would seem, from persons who supplied it by handing it through the window, But at last the police were informed of the wretched way in which this couple were contriving to support life, and the house was entered. The ailing man and his helpless wife were found lying in a kitchen, badly lighted, and the place was thick, it is stated, with accumulations of dust and filth. Indeed, the conditions of these two persons is alluded to as ‘ indescribable.’ One of fie first acts of the police when they entered, owing to the polluted state of the air, was to disinfect the house. The wretched couple had then to be conveyed to a hospital in blankets, and the woman is believed to be in a critical condition. There was plenty of money in the house, which was well enough furnished ; yet these people were actually in a far worse condition than the inmates of a casual ward.—Exchange,