Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 204, 29 May 1891 — CASES. [ARTICLE]

CASES.

A native, Kualaku, has a wife | who was condenaned by the .Boardl of Healih and sent to the ieper | settlement 011 Molokai. After aj time Kualaku applied for a di-1 vorce on the ground that liis wife | wa.s ( i iviliy dcad; but Dr. Swift of i the iepe.r. Bcttlement sent in a cer- j .tificate that the woman was not a i Jeper-an.d a clivorce was refused on that groun 1. The* rnan thought. that if his wiie \vas not afTeeted with the digease he would have her! back", and. took steps to secure her . release. Again Dr. Swift ser»t.in a certificate, but to the opposite efiect. Dr. Svvift seems to be very aeeom m')dciting in the niatter of certificates. ANC)THEK CASE. An eig}it-ycar-old son of Mr. Xawahi was attending the foreign «ehool in Ililo. There eame a swelling on one of 'li-is-eyelids, eommonly ealled a sty. In the.same schoo] there-was an iufant Hitehcock, who i-nin)ediatcly ran home and told her father tl>at the Nawahi bov had j the leprosy. The sherilT without I fnrther ceremonv sent a polieeman fbr tlie accused child and brought I ° i him down to the covnthouse. | The mother hearing that her son had" l>een arrested ran down towu and found liim being examined by I)r. " Williams. The doctor said that the boy was all right, but refused to give a health certificate; because, as it aftcward appeared, he had been ordered not to do so by the sheriff. Again the parents ireard that"Kitchcock had expressed his determination to send the boy to Molokai. So Mr. Nawahi brought him as soon as possible to Honolulu, and had him examined by several physiciaiis and ikially by the Board of Health all pf whom pronounced him sound and well, the sty in the meantime having disappeared. Now comes the most remarkable part of this story for whieh we beg the reader's special attention. When the boy was to Honol ul u, Hitchcock sent a 1 etter to the Board of Healih ''i'eeommending" that they skould not give him a certificate of heaUh. This was evidently an attempt to ini'luenee the Board. The siienff is not a physican nor has he any right to reconimend any course of action to the Board. Did Hitcheoek think that the Board would condemn this innocent child to a living death to aceommodate him and on thegeneral principle of reciprocity? Hnye such things been done before ? It looks like it. Perhaps if the Board had been constituted as it onee wae, this young child would have been sent to a loathsome death to gratify a private spite.