While in the early days the Hospital was placed under the control of Dr. Hulme as Provincial Surgeon, he had under him a House Surgeon, in the person of Dr. Yates (recently deceased), who held office until the year of Provincial abolition. Since Dr. Yates's retirement the House Surgeonship has been held successively by Drs. Tighe (who died while in the service), Roberts, Davis, again Roberts, Fleming, Barclay, and Copland. The last-named gentleman is now in office, in conjunction with Dr. Earnest E. Fooks. Dr. John Brown, recently retired, held the position of dispenser for over twenty years, and that duty is now discharged by Mr. Frederick Akhurst. Mrs. Jessie Reid was the first matron, she being succeeded in 1877 by Mrs. Burton, now in office. Mr. S. Smith, afterwards minister of Port Chalmers Congregational Church, was the first chaplain to the Hospital; and Mr. J. A. Torrance, after 21 years' services, now holds that office. Recently, the Anglican Church in Dunedin appointed the Rev. W. Ronaldson to visit patients connected with that persuasion. For several years Father Moreau, a gentleman universally respected, discharged the duties of Roman Catholic chaplain, and since his retirement the work has been carried on by the reverend gentlemen connected with that church in Dunedin.
THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.
Insanity too soon manifested itself in the young settlement of Otago, and it is a remarkable fact that this, the worst of all the ills that flesh is heir to, first appealed to the sympathies of the people and engaged the attention of the authorities. As stated in the previous sketch (that of the Hospital), when the Province was only two years old it was humanely determined to establish an Hospital, in anticipation of physical disease or injury, but it may be taken for granted that the possibility of mental disease appearing—or, at all events, so soon appearing—in their midst, was entirely foreign to the thoughts of the early settlers. The Hospital, as a place for the physically sick, however, was premature by two years, but it was fortunately in existence, and, in the first instance, it served the purpose of a Lunatic Asylum. Before two years elapsed after its erection it became the home of three insane persons, under the care of Mr. Barr.
