A SAD FATE.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1959, 15 April 1875, Page 2

A SAD FATE.

A Taranaki correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says :—I chanced to goto the Hospital the other day, and in the Lunatic■; Asylum, which adjoinr it, I found one whose name is well known in the world; I there*found my old friend Charles Flinders Hursthouse—a man who has done more than any, man towards the r settlement of New Zealand. His books are well known, the '.Britain of the South" going threugh several editions. And this, is the"* end": of .the, man whose name at one time-was- quoted by nearly |every newspaper in the Colony. He did 'not know me; and his madness has now ; reached rthat 'stage ;wben the maniac delights in tearing everything he can lay his hands on into ribbons, and theft .decorating his person with them. -X :was so shocked with ,the sight that I: did not enquire whether the" General I Government knew of his position ; but if it does,' it is a disgrace to the 'Coleny* 3fr* 'Hursthouse has .two sisters here, I learn, jboth widows, besides several nephews and Inieces. * I am not an advocate for pen- vi isions ; but when, day after day, money is ; voted :to men who have not done the; 'benefit to the country Charles Hursthouse. has, the least the Government could do is '[to see that he is removed to an asylum i where more comfortable accommodation. swas to be obtained, as he is incapable of .'taking care of himself. Poor man! he ihas done the State some service, and it is •only right for- that State to see that, during the few'remaining days of his life, he was properly cared for. To keep a human- being in New Plymouth Lunatic Asylum. v> is a -disgrace to any civilised community,' and the; quicker matters are ,mended< here the better.