Whatever the Returned Soldiers' Association (now the Returned and Services' Association) is today, in the years after the First World War it was as militant a union on behalf of its members as any in the nation. Perhaps its militancy was a reaction to wartime discipline. Having left the Army, free citizens felt more inclined to take to task their former military superiors when they felt that their fellow veterans were not being treated as they deserved.
One episode in which the RSA became involved was the incarceration - without due process of law - of returned soldiers in mental asylums.
Rifleman Donald Macintosh volunteered for the Army in late 1915. He did not see much, if any, action, being admitted to hospital with orchitis - an inflammation of the testicle - in April, 1916. While in hospital in Egypt, it seems he developed a serious mental health issue - in July of 1916 his official record was marked "mental" and he was struck off the Regimental Roll in September with the note "delusions of persecution." He returned to New Zealand in October and was discharged as no longer fit in November.
SOLDIERS IN ASYLUMS
TREATMENT OF RETURNED MEN
Macintosh's Charges Against Administration
DR. TRUBY KING'S ARBITRARY POWERS.
(From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.)
On Monday, and Wednesday of last week in the jury room of the Supreme Court, Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., held an inquiry, as directed by the Government, into certain charges alleged by Donald Macintosh, a returned soldier. Mr. W. C. MacGregor represented the Defence Department and Mr. A. C. Hanlon appeared for petitioner.
Lawyer Hanlon, introducing the matter, said: Early this morning Macintosh came to me and instructed me to appear for him. On discussing the matter it appeared to me that several of the points as to which he complained having since the inquiry was promised, been satisfied by the department, and the other points being of
INTEREST TO SOLDIERS GENERALLY, and likely to be brought forward by their associations later, it would be undesirable, perhaps, for me to pursue the inquiry. Accordingly, I advised Macintosh in this direction, but while agreeing to this, I thought it right to relate more fully what the circumstances were which led to this result. Therefore, I'll read the allegations: — Your Worship, Private Donald Macintosh, during the last two years, has persistently appealed to the Defence Department to set up an inquiry into his treatment after returning to New Zealand invalided from active service. His allegations were: (a) That he was placed in Seacliff Mental Asylum and kept there several weeks before being legally committed as a mental patient; (b) That his money, amounting in all to £3 15s 1d, was taken from him; (c) That his back pay — £29 9s 1d — was not paid to him, but was sent to the Mental Hospital's Department to pay for his board whilst an inmate of Seacliff, such a proceeding being illegal and contrary to the King's Regulations; (d) That he was discharged from the service a few weeks after being taken to Seacliff, in fact, immediately on his legal commitment thereto, although he was not made aware of this until his discharge from the hospital thirteen months later; (e) That his military pay was stopped from the date of his military discharge, and (f) That, after fourteen months' incarceration in Seacliff Mental Hospital, when he was set at liberty to enter civil life once more, he was discharged from amongst the worst class of patients, instead of being brought up gradually through the various stages towards convalescence; (g) That, although he had written to the military authorities for a new kit, his old uniform and underclothing being practically done, and had received a letter which said the clothing asked for would be sent, he afterwards received another communication saying the clothing would not be sent, and so Macintosh had to leave Seacliff Mental Asylum wearing
THE UNIFORM OF A MADMAN. (h) On leaving the Institution he asked for the money which had been taken from him when first brought there, but it was refused him; (i) That he was conveyed to Wanganui, in which town he had lodged prior to his enlisting, and there cast adrift without a penny, and was left for three months without any monetary support whatever; (j) That Macintosh claimed that as his discharge showed that his illness
WAS "THE RESULT OF ACTIVE SERVICE," and that his character was "GOOD," if his military pay stopped while he was a mental patient in hospital, he ought to have been in receipt of a full pension, and this should have been accumulating to his credit against the time of his discharge cured,
BUT THIS CLAIM THE DEFENCE DEPARTMENT STRENUOUSLY AND PERSISTENTLY DENIED; (k) That up to, during and after such time as Macintosh's appeal for an inquiry came before the House of Representatives at the close of last session, Macintosh claimed that it was an outrage to place him or any person in Seacliff before being legally committed; (l) That the nature of his illness, as that of many other soldiers, was such as would not only not be benefited by being placed in such an institution, but was more likely to be further aggravated; (m) That he complained of the treatment he saw other returned soldiers receive, and pointed out that all the time he was detained as a mental patient even when among the worst type of lunatics, he had access to his kit, which contained two razors and two jack-knives.
Macintosh, continued Mr. Hanlon, appealed for an inquiry into all these charges, and his appeal was renewed from time to time. As his appeal was persisted in, the department first granted one claim, then another, until all he had asked for had been granted. The money taken from him he received from the Public Trustee some time after regaining his liberty, but that official deducted the cost of postage and registration fee from the sum, although the interest accruing on the £3 15s 1d, which was not paid to Macintosh, must have amounted to several times the cost of postage and registration. Next, a full pension was granted him, and it was made retrospective to the date of his discharge from Seacliff. In reply to a further appeal, the £29 9s 1d of back pay held to defray
THE COST OF HIS KEEP, was refunded in full, but in this case also he did not receive the interest which must have accrued thereon during the more than two years the Government had held the amount back. After Macintosh's case was considered in committee of the House of Representatives, and was discussed in Parliament, Mr. Massey promised that an inquiry would be granted, and that it would be held in January. Macintosh was not, however, officially so notified and his witnesses concerning his treatment, and the treatment of returned soldiers generally in the mental hospital, were ready during the whole of January to come forward if called upon. But January came and went and no inquiry was held. Macintosh then lost trace of his witnesses. Several weeks ago he was notified that the inquiry would be held to-day, but since his case had been before Parliament and a public inquiry granted, the Defence Department had granted all he had claimed. He was sent a cheque for over £100 as accumulated pension for the time he had been held at Seacliff. He was granted his gratuity, and also his extended gratuity. He was granted his three weeks' railway pass, and he was supplied with the full discharge kit he had asked for before leaving Seacliff Mental Hospital. All this had occurred after the promise of an inquiry. There was now nothing left to inquire into that concerned Macintosh alone. The only matter that had not been cleared up was that of his being held in Seacliff without being legally committed, and the other allegations as to his treatment in the institution. Dr. Hay, since the fixing of the date of this inquiry, had explained that Macintosh had been merely detained for observation and for his own good, and that had he improved in health during the period of observation he would not have been committed, but would have left the institution "without any
STAIN ON HIS CHARACTER" — whatever that might mean! Macintosh was now willing to accept the explanation as being, in the view of the institution's medical men, a wise procedure; but he reserved his right to express his opinion that the sights seen and the persons he was compelled to mix with during the period of observation did not tend to improve a person in a weak state of bodily and mental health. As to the other charges which were of a general nature, since coming to Dunedin and interviewing the Returned Soldiers' Association, several leading medical men, including the foremost nerve specialist in the Dominion, and having seen corroborative evidence of his statements as to the conditions of things then at the mental hospital, and being assured that the Returned Soldiers' Association were determined to press for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the whole question of the commitment of returned men in mental asylums, Macintosh, acting in his counsel's advice, asked permission to withdraw, without prejudice, charges not yet dealt with and contained in his petition to the House, in order that his evidence might be available for the wider inquiry when that took place.
Mr. W. C. MacGregor: It is quite open to Macintosh and his advisers to bring forward any charge they wish; but, it was regrettable in the interests of Macintosh that these complaints were ever made. Having been made, however, it was essential in the interests of the public that they should be inquired into.
Mr. Cooper, S.M. (the Commissioner): Mr. Hanlon, I understand, withdraws the charges now. Is that not so, Mr. Hanlon?
Mr. Hanlon: Oh, no, sir; I certainly do not withdraw any of them.
Mr. MacGregor: That is so. Not only does he not withdraw them, but he has repeated them publicly, so that the whole subject goes abroad in a distorted form, and with no evidence in support of it. The Commissioner said that if the allegations made were not unreservedly withdrawn he must proceed to hear them.
Mr. Hanlon: I don't withdraw them, not for a single moment.
Mr. MacGregor: Are you going to call Macintosh?
Mr. Hanlon: No; you have
GIVEN WAY ON EVERY POINT except one.
Mr. MacGregor: Very well. I will proceed with my witnesses.
Maurice Quill, chief attendant, Porirua, who had charge of Karatane when Macintosh was there, said that the only authority he saw for the presence of Macintosh was a certificate of admission given by the military authorities. Macintosh was brought there under armed military escort. He did not get any warrant authorising him to keep the man there. Macintosh was troublesome there, and considered dangerous by the other patients who were a quiet lot. Karatane was Dr. King's private property.
Dr. Truby King went into exhaustive details in dealing with Macintosh, despite the fact that he had considered the man a lunatic, who was not quite himself even yet. All Macintosh's statements were absolutely contrary to the truth, and due to the man's diseased imagination. He made trouble, continually quarrelling with the patients and attendants. The man was nothing more than a foul-mouthed bully. The food at Seacliff was perfect, the porridge lovely, much nicer indeed than Dr. and Mrs. Truby King had themselves. The patients were all a happy lot, in fact, Macintosh was among the worst the attendants had had to deal with. The suits worn by the inmates were ordinary tweeds — quite respectable, and not by any means a uniform. No one could detect a suit as worn at Seacliff. There was nothing at all conspicuous about the garb.
To Mr. Hanlon: A soldier could become an inmate of Seacliff without a magisterial order, and he (witness) could keep a soldier at Seacliff without any such order. All that was required was a general authority from the military, and he had had such authority. The man was a soldier and still subject to military orders. Karatane was his (witness's) property, and really a pleasure resort. The man was sent there and would not conduct himself, therefore he was taken to Seacliff, where there were sufficient attendants to deal with him if he became refractory. He did become so in spite of every kindness and attention, and they had had to restrain him a little for his own sake and the sake of others.
Mr. Hanlon: I want it made clear, Dr. King, that you, of your own judgment, can retain a soldier at Seacliff without a medical and magisterial committal? — That is so, under military direction of course, the man being still subject to military orders.
Nevertheless if all the medical men in Dunedin certified a soldier sane you had it in your power to still retain the man? — Yes, if I considered him otherwise, and my medical assistants.
And if you had any ill-will against a soldier inmate you could keep him there for ever, Dr. King? — Oh, yes, if I were the villain of the piece.
Mr. Hanlon: Well, I consider it
OPEN TO GRAVE ABUSE that power such as that should be centred in any one man, especially a man connected with the institution.
Several attendants at Seacliff gave evidence that went to show that Macintosh was insane though the witnesses spoke of his actions and language as if he were sane. Their evidence, in short, made out the man a mental defective, while at the same time they took his actions and language seriously. In this respect the evidence was on a par with that tendered by Dr. Truby King. There were two Jack-knives, but no razors in Macintosh's bag, and he had no access to it in any case, except superintended by an attendant.
Mr. MacGregor said he was not able to produce Mr. Page, who had been in charge of the forestry camp, where Macintosh had worked after being discharged from Seacliff. He put in a statement written by Mr. Page.
Thereupon, Mr. Hanlon put in a certified copy of a reference given by the same Mr. Page concerning Macintosh, to the Wanganui Returned Soldiers' Association. (Mr. Page's statement as tendered by Mr. MacGregor, and Mr. Page's reference, as tendered by Mr. Hanlon, though both bearing exactly upon Macintosh while at the forestry camp, nevertheless were entirely contradictory. In the statement, Mr. Page said that Macintosh was quarrelsome . and an annoyance to everyone; and, in the reference, Mr. Page said Macintosh had proved himself good and was a good workman).
Dr. Truby King, recalled, again referred to the clothing worn by Macintosh on leaving the institution. He would say once more that there was nothing about the suit to attract anyone's attention. The suit was a tweed one provided by the institution, and had no outside pockets. It was very unfortunate that the term pocketless had been used, because there were inside pockets. The doctor repeatedly contended that the public could not recognise the clothes as mental hospital uniform, and was no way conspicuous.
Mr. Hanlon said that it was only Chinamen and lunatics who had no outside pockets on their coats and trousers and they were most conspicuous. In fact long before this inquiry he had observed several individuals at Seacliff station, and he was attracted to them by the fact that in order to keep their hands warm they
RAMMED THEM UP THEIR SLEEVES. It was then he observed that the men had no pockets in their coats and trousers. Naturally, the conspicuous attitude of the men induced inquiry, and he discovered that these persons were lunatics, or rather inmates of Seacliff Mental Hospital.
Dr. Truby King: Most unusual, Mr. Hanlon; most unusual!
Mr. Hanlon: Inmates are easily recognisable by their clothes alone, and it was in one of these suits that Macintosh was discharged — discharged in the garb of a lunatic, and had to proceed thus to Wanganui.
Mr. MacGregor said that all the charges had been satisfactorily disproved by the evidence as led by him. The man's statements were due to his diseased mind, and these statements were sufficient reasons in themselves for the actions of the department. Mr. MacGregor read various communicated from the authorities to the sub-editor of "Truth," who had interested himself in the Macintosh case.
Mr. Hanlon: There is a great deal more in the petitioner's complaints than he had believed at first. The efforts of the department indicated as much, and had disclosed circumstances which he had thought could not exist in the Dominion. A great effort had been made to besmirch as far as possible the petitioner and his character; but, although they had succeeded in showing up certain facts, it must not be forgotten that those who spoke of him were speaking of the conduct of a man who had been certified insane, and his insanity was a good excuse for anything alleged against his behavior. To besmirch the character of a man mentally defective is really descending to deplorable tactics indeed, tactics that...
The Commissioner: I do not see that it was to besmirch the petitioner. The evidence was brought to show that he was actually insane.
Mr. Hanlon: Very well. If that is so, all that was necessary would have been to say that at the time he was admitted, Macintosh was a mental defective. It was pitiful in the extreme that the Crown had taken up the position it had. A circumstance particularly harped upon was that the man had no war service at all. Yet the fact remains that the man went to the front as a volunteer, contracted illness, and was put into hospital. It has not been shown, and it cannot be shown that it was through any fault of his own that he had not had two or three years' service. Neither has it been shown that the man's illness was due to himself in any way. What did they do when they discharged this volunteer from active service? Run him into the madhouse. Yet here was what one of his papers, signed by a responsible military officer, says, "he was discharged from further military duty owing to illness
CONTRACTED WHILE ON ACTIVE SERVICE." In the face of that, what is the department's labored evidence worth? And another document here says, "Honorably Discharged," and his character was "good." That is the man of whom they said he had no war service at all, that he was in hospital all the time. Seacliff might be a good institution, but is it proper that any single authority should have the sole right to send a man to an institution of that kind? The question was whether there existed a right to send a man there. Karatane may be looked upon as a convalescent home or an observation house, or "post"; but what they complained of was that a man who was sent there upon the ipse dixit of some medical man holding a military commission, could be transferred on the word of a superintendent to the mental hospital, and kept there as long an he pleased without legal commitment.
Mr. MacGregor: Macintosh was committed to the mental hospital on the application of Dr. Truby King, by Mr. Widdowson, S.M.
Mr. Hanlon: Yes, in the end. Bear in mind, in the end; and it is Dr. Truby King again. The doctor had had the man a considerable time when something stirred him to do that. Even so it was an improper procedure. Why did Dr. Truby King — the superintendent of the asylum where the man had been detained without warrant of any kind — make the application? It should not be possible for a man to be taken into a mental hospital without legal warrant. Not only was Macintosh committed there without warrant of any kind, but when they had him there they took his back pay and appropriated it for his keep in the hospital. In his pay-book, which showed his credit, there was written, "the above credit has been applied to pay the cost of maintenance in the mental hospital, Seacliff, in view of the fact that the disability was not caused by military service." In view of what fact? The man's official military discharge plainly and emphatically states the fact that his illness was contracted on active service. And in the face of this fact the above inaccuracy is written in his pay-book. Nearly two years afterwards they come forward and refund the man's money. He had £3 odd on him when taken to the mental hospital, and it disappeared.
Mr. MacGregor: My friend is merely dictatory to the newspapers. The money was handed over to the Public Trustee and paid back.
Mr. Hanlon: I contend that it was not. He left the institution penniless and in the garb of a madman. It was the duty of the department to see that the man should not have to go from the place without the money he brought into it. Dr. Truby King does not like the mental hospital attire called a uniform. Well, what else is it, when every inmate's coat and trousers are pocketless? Macintosh was sent out without a penny of his money to carry in his hand — he could not carry it in his pockets for he had none. I should think that
IF A SON OF MINE were sent home in such a suit I would have something more to say. The Crown have failed utterly to maintain their points. If I knew personally for a moment that this man's charges were baseless I would not be here. But I cannot see that his charges are baseless.
The inquiry was adjourned to Saturday, 20th inst. at Wellington in order to have the evidence of the Commissioner of Pensions there. -NZ Truth, 20/3/1920
ASTONISHING ALLEGATIONS
Seacliff Mental Hospital
ILLEGAL COMMITTAL OF SOLDIERS.
Captain Jones Asks Some Questions.
Several months back an Inquiry was opened in Dunedin to investigate the charges made by a returned soldier named Donald Macintosh against the Defence Department and Seacliff Mental Hospital authorities. What the result of that inquiry has been no one knows. "Serious allegations were made by Macintosh against the authorities, and some remarkable disclosures were given. Last week, at an Executive meeting of the Returned Soldiers' Association, Dunedin, allegations equally as serious were made concerning the same authorities and institution by Captain R. P. Jones. Captain Jones's statements peculiarly corroborated the charges levelled at the authorities by Lawyer Hanlon in the course of the Macintosh investigation at Dunedin. The charges made by Captain Jones involve certain medical officers in the Defence Department and at Seacliff Asylum. Captain Jones said he wanted to say something, which would take some time, with reference to some matters affecting Seacliff Mental Hospital and this association. He had endeavored to discover the attitude of the authorities there toward returned soldiers, but did not exactly succeed: the position was not quite clear. There had been several irregularities, the facts relative to which he had in his possession. The principal one was the alleged admission of several soldier patients to Seacliff and their detention there
WITHOUT THE ORDER OF A MAGISTRATE. One man named Box arrived in New Zealand on July 21, 1919. He was met on the Dunedin wharf by motor-car and taken immediately to Seacliff, where he was kept for several months before being admitted in proper order. He was a month there before his people at Tapanui heard of it, and when they did, it was through the efforts of a brother. The case of Private Cleary was a very sad one. First of all he was at Rotorua. He was partially paralysed and could not speak. He was taken from Rotorua to Karitane, and from Karitane to Seacliff, where he was found dead. This poor fellow had also been illegally taken there. Captain Jones said he had a list of several other returned men who were at Seacliff, but he would make no more charges at present, as he thought it wise to keep several facts up his sleeve until they had an inquiry. They would ask the Department certain questions, and if these were answered satisfactorily the thing would end. If the Department did not think proper to answer the questions to their satisfaction, then they would go on with the matter. They had no such institution in New Zealand as at Home for soldier patients. Of course here, they had had a half-way house known as Karitane, understood to be owned by Dr. Truby King, merely a camouflage he did not know. The majority of the soldier patient cases were the result of shell shock on service. Directly a soldier had been in the asylum a month, his pay slopped and he
WAS CONSIDERED DEAD. Men sent to Karitane were afterwards sent to Seacliff on some pretext or trivial matter. Karitane, he understood, was now closed. Why? By whom?
Captain Jones moved that the Defence Department, through the A.D.M.S. be asked for a report on the questions submitted: the number of ex-soldier patients at present in Seacliff Mental Hospital, the number admitted during the period 1914-1920, the number admitted without a magistrate's order, the number so admitted, who died there, the total number of deaths of soldier patients there from 1914 to 1920.
Mr. J. H. McNish seconded.
Mr. W. Clark: I think whatever confidential Information Captain Jones holds should be kept up his sleeve. It is a very serious matter these allegations concerning Seacliff, and they will open up one of the biggest issues that has ever come to light in New Zealand. For this reason I ask Captain Jones to be sure of his facts. If a man was discharged from the army while in an asylum, that man was a civilian and should be subject to civilian law: he should, therefore, be discharged from the institution at the same time, and then re-committed properly and legally if necessary. Under civil law what redress has a man if he is committed?
Dr. Harrison: None, if he is committed by a magistrate and the two doctors agree.
Mr. Clark: I certainly think that we should support the proposals put in by Captain Jones, and at this stage accept his statements as correct. I am astounded at the allegations made here to-night, and we must be prepared to fight it out to the bitter end.
On Dr. Harrison's suggestion it was decided to ask the Department to state the procedure they adopted in getting mental soldier patients into Seacliff during 1914-1920. In the course of moving other proposals adopted, Captain Jones asked what attention was given to the wounds and physical disabilities of soldier patients at Seacliff? "I want to know," he said, "whether there was
A SECRET UNDERSTANDING between the Defence Department, or the Minister-in-Charge and Dr. Truby King, whereby soldier patients were admitted to Seacliff Mental Hospital? Why Karitane was closed? By whose authority it was closed? Who was the owner? What amount was paid for the lease of the place by the Department? What agreement was entered into by the Defence Department for the taking over of it? When Karitane was closed?
Dr. Harrison: You are at present asking for information.
Continuing, Captain Jones said: Also the number of soldier mental patients discharged from the expeditionary force owing to having been in the Seacliff Mental Hospital? The amount of pension paid to next-of-kin of soldier mental patients who have died? The amount being paid to soldier mental patients or their next-of-kin.
Mr. Clark: Captain Jones has worked the whole thing out from all points of the compass, and we cannot do anything until we get our replies.
The three final queries were referred to the District Council for inquiry. -NZ Truth, 9/10/1920.
Donald's records show him not in Seacliff but in Sunnyside mental hospital in Christchurch, in 1921.
PARLIAMENT AND PETITIONS
FLAGRANT FLOUTING OF COMMITTEES' RECOMMENDATIONS. (EXCERPT)
The petitioners, relying on their rights under the constitution, go to great trouble and expense to get their wrongs righted, only to find in the end, that after having their hopes raised to the acme by the finding of the committees, they and their prayers and petitions are silently ignored by the Powers that be. But bad as things are it seems to be getting the longer the worse. During last session the petition of Donald Macintosh, a returned soldier, received "favorable consideration," and a magisterial inquiry into his case was granted. That inquiry took place at Dunedin six months later. Over six months have passed since, but no report has been made to the House with the magistrate's findings. The long wait and anxiety have told detrimentally upon Macintosh, who, after several weeks in Trentham Hospital, is now an inmate of Queen Mary's Hospital, Hanmer. Why such unconscionable delay? And now comes the Thompson case. -NZ Truth, 30/10/1920.
RETURNED SOLDIERS
MEETING OF EXECUTIVE (excerpt)
SOLDIER MENTAL PATIENTS.
The Prime Minister having stated that before he could consider the association’s request for a public court of inquiry into the admission and treatment of soldier mental patients at Seacliff definite cases would have to be cited, the sub-committee recommended that the following names of exmental patients and others be submitted to Mr Massey — Privates Donald Macintosh (Hanmer), A. R. D. Box (Port Chalmers), W. B. Miller (Portobello), Nurse Miller, Mrs J. K. Macfie, and Colonel T. W. McDonald. The report mentioned that Private Macintosh had allegations to make as to the treatment of Privates Creely and Maitland, and that Colonel McDonald would give evidence in support of other cases.
Mr Jones moved, and Mr McNish seconded, the adoption of the report, with a view to sending it on to the Prime Minister.
Mr Clark: Is there any proof that Colonel McDonald will give evidence if required?
Mr Jones: Colonel McDonald is willing to conduct the case for the association if the Defence Department allows him.
Mr Calvert considered that if Colonel McDonald had knowledge of any cases other than the three mentioned they should be embodied in the report. After further discussion the motion was carried. -Otago Daily Times, 2/3/1921.
RETURNED SOLDIERS
MEETING OF EXECUTIVE (excerpt)
SOLDIER MENTAL PATIENTS.
At the request of the Prime Minister, the association some time ago submitted as specific instances of ill-treatment or illegal detention the names of Privates Donald Macintosh (Hanmer), R. D. Box (Port Chalmers), and W. B. Miller (Portobello). It was then stated that Private Macintosh had allegations to make concerning the treatment of Privates Creely and Maitland, and that Colonel McDonald would give evidence in support of other cases.
In reply to this, the Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister-in-charge of Mental Hospitals) wrote that he could answer the allegations, but not without disclosing private information on the files of the persons concerned. He would submit the matters to the Headquarters Secretary of the association, giving him the opportunity to peruse the files, and leaving him to communicate his impressions to the Dunedin association. From his knowledge of the cases referred to, he was confident that the association had been misinformed in essentials, and that there was no evidence of ill-treatment and no death due directly or indirectly to ill-treatment. With regard to complaints of illegal detention, he pointed out that the arrangement to treat soldier patients without having them formally committed, where there was some hope of recovery, was in their own interests. A large proportion so treated recovered, and more advanced cases were given the same trial before being committed under a reception order. This humanitarian procedure should have commended itself to the association. He had asked the Defence Department to furnish him with cases reported by Colonel T. W. Macdonald while commanding the Otago area. The letter was held over for the incoming committee’s consideration. -Otago Daily Times, 13/4/1921.
SOLDIERS IN ASYLUMS
Treatment of Mental Patients
Colonel McDonald Hits Out.
(From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.) From time to time we have heard and read a lot about the callous treatment meted out to soldier mental patients, and the irregular systems adopted for placing them in mental hospitals. This paper has repeatedly opened its columns to full reports of inquiries, commissions and meetings bearing on the sad state of affairs, and was indeed the first paper to ventilate the original case, that of Donald Macintosh, and succeed in having a public inquiry held into the charges made. The revelations as to affairs in asylums in this country in regard to soldier patients are little more damaging than what could be alleged respecting the receptions and treatment of ordinary civil patients in some cases. It is to be hoped that the repeated light and criticism turned on our mental hospitals will have the salutary effect of arousing some degree of public and political interest in the methods and conduct of magistrates, doctors, lawyers and officials who can combine frequently to make of these institutions places more dreadful and soulcrushing than were the bastilles of the middle ages. There are people in the madhouses of this country and Australia who are sane, and there are criminals, who have succeeded
BY PROCESS OF LAW, and without process of law, in putting them there, who should be expiating their crimes in a convict prison. Unfortunately, we recognise that the public is taking everything lying down, and so long as officials and the supine political heads of the country have to deal with an unthinking, prostrate people, so long shall sanity be the regulated and recognised sense only of the "powers that be" and their agents. Last week the executive of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers' Association resumed its offensive on the irregularities relating to soldier mental patients. We should, however, state that the offensive was mainly due to Colonel McDonald, Captain Jones, and one or two others, as there are on the executive of the Dunedin R.S.A. many supine characters, lawyers, doctors and business men — who look first to their bread and butter, and think as little of their unfortunate comrades as any of the supine members of the Government.
Colonel McDonald said it was the most unpleasant thing he had ever tackled in his life, but it was the most important question he had come in contact with in his 25 years of military life. He would deal with the matter outside of military life altogether. Had he not been impressed with what he himself had seen, he would not have been convinced that the Minister's (Mr. Parr's) letter was nothing but camouflage of the real issue. He knew it did not convey a true impression of what the real issue was, and he was satisfied that grave abuses existed, so that it behoved everyone who called himself that comrade of these unfortunate men to see the thing through, as though they were calling for help on the field of battle; calling as they had actually done to his personal knowledge:
....For God's sake come to our rescue. We are in a madhouse, and If we don't get out we will go mad altogether.
"The position is," said Colonel McDonald, ''that these men were incarcerated in madhouses contrary to law land without authority. As a result some had gone to their death-bed. For that they must place the responsibility on those who sent a man to a madhouse in a disabled condition."
Quoting from the Mental Defectives Act, 1911, section 120, the colonel showed that a superintendent commits an indictable offence if he receives, or detains, or permits to be detained, any mentally defective person except under Authority of the Act.
Relative to Karatane, he quoted from the Soldiers' Guide, describing Karatane under instructions to the control of the Defence Department, as a place providing pleasant, open-air life for soldiers suffering from a breakdown, and was "for the express purpose of keeping them away from asylums.
The chairman, Mr. McCrae, remarked that the method of admission had the approval of the R.S.A. headquarters.
Colonel McDonald: No association has the right to assume responsibility for allowing its comrades to be clumped into madhouses. I know the strongest exception was taken to it in Wellington. Quoting from the annual report of Mental Hospitals for 1917, the colonel showed that Karatane had been started so that advantage might be taken of the special skill of the department's officers, but that where mental deficiency was pronounced, the soldier patients would be admitted to a mental hospital as affording the best chance of recovery. In the 1918 report it was stated that occasionally there were
COMPLAINTS OF WRONGFUL COMMITTAL or detention, but in no case did investigation bear them out. Such complaints were generally made by patients whose minds were disordered. The 1919 report, dealing with a summary made by the Inspector-General of Mental Hospitals, divided soldier patients into two classes: Those who were treated successfully without a reception order, and held as voluntary patients at Karatane, or at the Wolf Home, Auckland; and those who could not be properly treated outside a mental hospital, and were committed under a magistrate's order. Some patients in the first class were on the borderline of the second, and those who passed beyond it had to be placed under a reception order in mental hospitals. Sir James Allen, when Minister of Defence, stated in Parliament that cases bordering on the mental were sent to Karatane, some of them under control; and, that "in no case had there been a committal to a mental hospital until it was absolutely certain that the patient had to go there, and then only under the usual control." That was an absolute contradiction of the whole thing. The Hon; G. W. Russell said that the Mental Hospital Department acted only after complaints had been made, by the relatives or the police, or other responsible people, and after the patient had been examined.
Colonel McDonald continuing, said that all these documents showed that the authorities had no knowledge of what was taking place. It had been said that the men were taken for their own good and to remove the stigma of having been committed to a mental hospital, but he Colonel McDonald had been personally to one, and found the names of every soldier patient, whether committed or not, entered and recorded against him, and everything that could be
DONE TO PUT THE STIGMA ON HIM had been done. By the lunacy clause of the Kings Regulations pay ceased when a soldier was described as a lunatic, and he knew of one instance where he found that they had stopped from one man £40. So far as he knew, no redress had been granted to these men. Gratuities were withheld in many cases, and pensions also. "That was the way in which the stigma was removed!" added the speaker.
Colonel McDonald then went on to give several glaring instances of numerous cases that indicated the callousness of control exercised in the madhouses, and the extraordinary weaknesses, duplicity or ignorance which the Government had exhibited. One case was that of a soldier who was discharged in 1917, and showed that the abuse of power disclosed in his case might be used towards a civilian, merely on the ground that he had once been a soldier. On February 23, he was transferred to Karatane from Dunedin Hospital, after a medical examination had been held. On February 25, he was sent to Seacliff Asylum without being committed. On April 2, he was transferred to Karatane, and on September 5 retransferred to Seacliff. On January 1 he was committed by a magistrate. On March 19 he complained to Wellington of being sent to Seacliff, and said he should have been discharged from Karatane in July. He went there, thinking he would get his discharge, and alleged that they promptly put him in again. In April he complained of his foot, and asked to be sent to the hospital. Base Records took up the case, and the next report was, that the man had died of heart failure. Could any man's heart stand such treatment? In another case, a soldier seeing no hope of getting out of Seacliff, escaped and got as far as Macraes Flat, where the police were invoked to arrest and return him to Seacliff as a lunatic.
"He was kept there for months," said the colonel, "till the time came when the hospital authorities could apply with confidence for a committal. For all I know he is there still. Can you conceive anything worse than where one of our comrades
MAKES A DESPERATE BID FOR LIBERTY he should meet with such treatment? It behoves everyone to do all in his power to enable us to get to the bottom of all this."
Mr. Callan meekly said: "There was no doubt that the authorities knew that they had been in the wrong, but what was there now that they could set right?
Colonel McDonald let the little legal light know that he wanted every entry in relation to their unfortunate comrades made in the books of mental hospitals to be erased, gratuities and other moneys paid where due, and assurance that the like will not occur again.
The following resolution by the subcommittee was proposed:
This executive, while not agreeing with the suggestion that there is any stigma on a man in being committed to a mental hospital as the result of war service, is strongly of opinion that the regular practice of committal by a magistrate should always be followed, and is glad to note that after attention had been directed to the matter there were no more cases of departure from that practice.
The above unsoldierly and colorless resolution was passed unanimously — but only when Messrs. McDonald, Jones and McNish had succeeded in having it supplemented by the following important demand:
That all entries be erased from the records either in or sent from mental hospitals; and that all moneys, pensions and gratuities of which soldier patients have been deprived in consequence of their discharge under the lunacy clause of the King's Regulations be refunded to them, or to their next-of-kin. -NZ Truth, 21/5/1921.
Donald Macintosh does not appear further in the available online record but there is a report of a singular incident connected to another name identified by the RSA - William Brown Miller.
THE COURTS — TO-DAY
CITY POLICE COURT. (Before J. R. Bartholomew. Esq., S.M.)
Drunkenness. — John Rothery Mossop and a first offender were each fined 20s or 48 hours. Another first offender was fined 10s or 48 hours. — Robert Allison was remanded for seven days for medical treatment.
Lost His Head. — William Brown Miller was charged with leaving a motor car in Princes street with dazzling head lights, with driving his car without a certificate of ability, and also with using insulting words with intent to provoke a breach of the peace. Mr Payne appeared for the defendant, who pleaded guilty to the first two charges and not guilty to the third. — The sub-inspector said that the defendant left his car in Princes street with dazzling lights. Constable Campbell sent for him, and drew his attention to the lights. The defendant then without provocation commenced to abuse the constable by calling him “a coldfooted policeman and one of Bill Massey’s shirkers.” He also said he had killed better men than the policeman. He refused to give his name and to produce his license. The man lost absolute control of himself. He did not appear to have any drink, but he lost his head altogether. — Mr Payne said that accused was wounded at the war, and returned by a hospital ship in March last. Before going to the front he drove a motor car at Alexandra for two years, and no certificate of ability was required there. He did not know that a certificate was necessary here. — The defendant, in his evidence, said that while serving in France had received a gun-shot wound in the hip. He had been in the Dunedin Hospital for nearly three weeks. He left the car in the street while he went into his boarding-house to get his things. The constable started to snarl at him. Witness got excited. Cross-examined, witness said he did not know that the Government had exempted policemen from service. He did not believe that they should be exempted. He considered that he was justified in using the expressions to the constable. He did not take it that because he was a returned soldier he could do as he liked. — His Worship said that it was unfortunate that defendant should have made such a bad showing in the witness box. If he had not reiterated the expressions this morning he would have imposed a much smaller penalty than he was about to do. Such language as defendant had used to the police was most objectionable. He would take into consideration that the defendant had lost his head. On the charge of using insulting language he would be fined 40s and costs (15s). For driving without a certificate he would be ordered to pay costs (7s), and on the other charge he would be fined 10s and costs (7s). -Evening Star, 28/5/1917.
DUNEDIN DOINGS
RETURNED SOLDIER PROBLEM
William Brown Miller was charged with assaulting Jack Williams. It appears that Jack Williams was a witness in a previous case that did not do Miller any good. Accused alleged that on that occasion Williams did not give truthful evidence, and followed up the accusation by the assault. It transpired from the evidence that, like many other war-broken men, Miller was a decent, respectable man prior to donning the khaki. Since his return from Gallipoli "he was all wrong." His Worship took the special circumstances into consideration and convicted the accused, on condition that he came up for sentence when called upon, and that he remained under the supervision of the Rev. M. Cumming. -NZ Truth, 26/1/1918.
Private W B Miller is reported as winning 3rd place for poker work at the 1920 winter show at Dunedin. He also features in another story about soldiers at Seacliff Asylum.
SEACLIFF MENTAL HOSPITAL
SOLDIER PATIENTS.
SIR HEATON RHODES'S REPLY.
R.S.A. ALLEGATIONS. (excerpt)
With regard to the case of W. B. Miller, this man returned to New Zealand with wounds in the back, and suffering from shellshock. After being in Karitane for two months he was discharged, and took up civil employment. Whilst in Karitane Miller was examined by the A.D.M.S. Dunedin, and was treated in the Dunedin Hospital for the wounds in his back. His subsequent committal to Seacliff was the result of action taken by the civil authorities. There is no secret understanding between the Defence Department or the Defence Minister and the officer in charge of the mental hospital, Seacliff, regarding the admittance of soldier patients to the hospital. There was an agreement made by the late Directorgeneral of Medical Services, which is fully explained in the answer to question No. 1, and had reference only to the treatment of men at Clifton House. -Otago Daily Times, 19/10/1920.
In William Brown Miller's army records can be found a fascinating letter, written in July, 1920, from Dr Truby King of Seacliff hospital to Brigadier-general McGavin, describing a man "obsessed with ideas of persecution and suspicion regarding the police." He was advised to spend some time out of Dunedin until he was able to see things in a more normal light but that advice was not followed. He threatened the lawyer who had appeared for him in the court appearance above, believing him to be in secret collusion with the police. This led to his committal to Seacliff.
Apart from his problems with the law, Miller is described as "a particularly nice man," and the conclusion of the letter is that it would be good for all involved if Miller can be found a job suitable to his skills as chauffeur and mechanic as an aid to his eventual recovery.
Following the above can be found a short note from the Minister of Defence to the Secretary of the Dunedin RSA, briefly detailing the situation and ending that, as soon as a suitable job away from Dunedin can be found, Miller will be released from Seacliff.
STRANGE STORY
EX-SOLDIER’S PETITION
ALLEGED INHUMANITY ON HOSPITAL SHIP
REDRESS AND COMPENSATION SOUGHT
(Special to the Times.) Wellington, September 20. An extraordinary story of harsh treatment on board the hospital ship Marama after the war is told by a returned soldier named Alfred Robert Daniel Box, of Port Chalmers, whose petition for redress and compensation was presented to Parliament by Mr J. M. Dickson to-day.
Box says that after being treated in England for pleurisy in 1919, he was sent back to New Zealand by the Marama. He alleges that when he wept on board at the port of embarkation he was bundled into a locker and locked in. He was confined in this locker for at least a week under extremely harsh conditions. He was fed through a slide and the food issued to him was inadequate. The only articles in the locker were an oilskin mattress and a military greatcoat. He received no medical attention during the period of his detention, though he was still suffering from pleurisy. He was not allowed out of the locker under any circumstances and as there were no conveniences therein the locker became filthy and insanitary. During the day he was put in a wire enclosure on deck, but was again put back in the locker at night. A medical officer came once or twice and looked at him and listened to what others said of him but did not examine him.
About a week before the ship reached New Zealand he was put in a cabin with other men in the usual way. When the ship arrived at Port Chalmers he was taken under escort to Dunedin and immediately conveyed to Seacliff Mental Hospital, where he was kept for about three months until on his brother’s request he was released.
Box alleges that he was never brought before a Magistrate; that no reception order was made in his case; that he was not at any time insane; and that he was unlawfully committed to and detained in Seacliff mental hospital. He states that while he was in hospital at Etaples his lack of education was made the subject of banter by the medical orderlies and on his complaining to the medical officers the orderlies put forward a suggestion that he was insane, and thereafter hospital authorities declared him to be suffering from melancholia. -Southland Times, 21/9/1927.
SOLDIER'S PETITION.
NO RECOMMENDATION.
[THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, October 1. The Defence Committee to-day reported on the petition of A. R. D. Box, of Port Chalmers, praying for redress and compensation on account of alleged wrongful detention in a mental hospital at Seacliff, Otago. The case of the petitioner, who made very serious allegations regarding his treatment in a hospital ship returning to New Zealand from the war, and also to his being confined in the Seacliff mental hospital, has previously been before Parliament. The Committee had given the case of petitioner serious consideration, and reported that it had no recommendation to make.
Mr J. Mc. Dickson, who presented the petition, expressed regret that the Committee had not reported favourably.
Mr H. E. Holland (Leader of the Opposition) gave a general support to the claim of the petitioner.
Sir Mauri Pomare said he had had a good deal to do with cases such as these after their return from the war. On account of their services it had been decided that they should be treated in the mental hospitals, but that their names should not appear on the books. Out of consideration for their services they had also been kept away from the other patients. A big percentage of them got well.
Mr J. A. Lee, Labour member for Auckland East who as a wounded soldier, came back in the same hospital ship as the petitioner, said it was true that some of the patients were kept in a cage, but the reason for that was that some had the idea that they could swim to New Zealand. The petitioner's statement that the ship was unsanitary was wrong. There were hundreds in the ship and the sanitation was attended to with scrupulous care. From personal observation he (Mr Lee) could say that petitioner's statements were most unreliable. The Committee had made the only recommendation possible.
The Hon. Mr Rolleston said such patients as the petitioner had received the utmost consideration. A Judge had submitted a written report on his particular case, and had stated that the petitioner was not entitled to-any-thing in the way of compensation. The report of the Committee was adopted. -Press, 18/10/1927.
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