Dr. Knox said that, that concluded the investigation into Dr. Shaw and now, he would like to go into the charges made by the master (James Donaldson) against the schoolmaster (John Byron) and the fever hospital nurse (Mrs. Hill).

James Donaldson sworn and examined: I am Master of Lurgan Workhouse. I sent in a report to the Board of Guardians on Thursday, 11th May, in reference of he conduct of Mr. Byron, the schoolmaster, and Mrs. Hill, the fever hospital nurse. My charge against them was for insubordination and disobedience of orders. I consider that every officer in the house is subordinate to my authority and bound to obey my orders. I consider that the conduct of the schoolmaster, in visiting the Fever Hospital contrary to my orders, is a breach of discipline. I do not think he should be out of his own room, and in any other part of the house, after his business is over for the day, without my permission. I particularly wish that there should be no communication between the fever hospital and any other department of the establishment. I consider that Mrs. Hill's encouraging his visits was likewise a breach of discipline, especially after hours. By after hours I mean after locking-up time, which is generally nine o'clock P.M. By the words in my report I am determined to put a stop to these nocturnal visits, which, both in this establishment and elsewhere, have generally ended in a way not very creditable to the parties. I do not mean to impute any moral impropriety to Mr. Byron or Mrs. Hill, but merely to charge them with a breach of discipline. Unless every officer is in due subordination and strictly obedient to my orders, it would be impossible for me to maintain the proper discipline of the house, for which I am accountable. I frequently remonstrated with Mr. Byron, but he said very little about it. He once denied the imputation, but still continued to visit the Fever Hospital. I never saw him there myself. but I saw him on one occasion coming from that direction in the hospital yard. It was then between eight and nine o'clock. The hour for locking up is usually nine o'clock. To Mr. Carlton: I never found Mr. Byron in or about the fever hospital on any occasion but the one I have mentioned. I think the report I made was a fair statement to lay before the Board of Guardians. It was after Mr. Byron had accused the doctor of drunkenness that I drew up the report.

Robert Wilson. sworn and examined: I was night attendant in the fever hospital for a fortnight all but a day. I saw Mr. Byron there several times, but not regularly. He was there sometimes by day, and sometimes in the evening near locking-up time, which is seven o'clock. It was in the kitchen I saw him; he never was in any of the wards of the hospital. Mrs. Hill and her daughter were there at the same time. I cannot say they were along with him, but they were present at the same time. To Mr. Carlton: I left the fever hospital about a a fortnight ago last Friday. I only saw Mr. Byron in the kitchen about three times. He was never there with Miss Hill in her mother's absence. I never knew of him being in any other part of the hospital.

John Byron (the schoolmaster) deposed: I acknowledge that I was several times at the hospital, in the kitchen. I sometimes went there on business connected with the house, and sometimes when I had not business. I was never there after nine o'clock. My business was to inquire about the places where the friends of deceased patients lived. I must be present at the interment of every patient whose body is unclaimed, and it is my duty to write to their relatives, that they may attend the funeral, to if they wish to do so. The reason I went there was that there was no other source from which I could derive the requisite information. I have often asked the porter, but he told me I must apply to the fever hospital nurses, as he knew nothing about it. Patients before their decease generally tell the nurses where their friends reside. I have also sometimes gone to the hospital with sick children by the doctor's orders. The master spoke to me three times, I think, about going there the last time was at e least six months ago. I thought there was no harm in my going there, whether I bad business or not, before locking-up time, that is about nine o'clock.

Mrs. Hill (fever hospital nurse) deposed: I was aware of Mr. Byron's visits to the hospital. The master never remonstrated with me about it, nor even mentioned his name to me till Sunday evening, the 7th inst., after the row with the doctor. He then told me he had seen him and Miss Hill, my daughter, together on the walk, and blamed me for encouraging him. I said that I did not encourage him. I was aware of his visits to the fever hospital, but I never gave him any encouragement to come there. Mr. Donaldson, the master, nor any one else, gave me directions to prevent Mr. Byron or any other officer from going to the fever hospital, nor was I ever told it was my duty to do so. I thought there was no impropriety whatever in Mr. Byron's sometimes coming there.

Dr. Knox said that he would forward the evidence to the Commissioners, who would send in their decision in due time.

THE VERDICT

The usual weekly meeting of the Lurgan Poor-law Guardians was held in the Boardroom on 7th July 1865. Mr. John M'Cartan in the chair. The other Guardians present were:- Messrs. Francis Watson, J.P., John Turtle, Francis Moore, Hill Smyth, John Macoun, George Ruddell, and William Macoun.

Mr. Ruddle (the Clerk), after some routine business, read the following communication from the Commissioners:-

Poor-law Commission-office, Dublin, 5th July, 1865.

"Sir, Adverting to their letters of the 27th ult., the Commissioners for Administering the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland desire to state, for the information of the Board of Guardians of Lurgan Union, that they have had under their consideration the report of their Inspector, Dr. Knox, together with the minutes of evidence taken by him, with respect to the charges preferred by Mr. Byron, the schoolmaster of the workhouse, against Dr. Shaw, the medical officer; and also regarding the representations made by the master of the workhouse affecting the schoolmaster, the fever hospital nurse, Mrs. Hill, and her daughter, Miss Hill, late superintendent of the female lunatics in the infirmary. The Commissioners forward the minutes of evidence herewith, to be laid before the Board of Guardians.

Dr. Knox reported as follows in reference to the first charge:-' It is only necessary farther to observe that the weight of evidence, a consideration of no slight importance in the decision of a disputed case, will be seen, on reference to the minutes, to be opposed to the substantiation of the charge of drunkenness. In the justice of this view the Commissioners, after consideration of all the circumstances, fully concur; and they are of the opinion that Dr. Shaw must be deemed to he entirely exonerated from the charge of drunkenness.

The next portion of Mr. Byron's charge relates to neglect of duty on the part of Dr. Shaw towards patients in the hospital. In the first case - that of John Connor the very serious imputation upon Dr. Shaw as a professional man was unsupported in any way beyond the mere expression of the opinion of the complainant and of Mrs. Hill, the fever hospital nurse. The death of this delicate, unhealthy boy appears to have been in no way the result of any neglect of his case, either in the fever hospital, at one time, or the infirmary at another, or in the fever hospital the second time, when he died from typhoid fever of a severe and fatal form. The charge appears, indeed, to have been preferred in a very reckless and urn-warrantable manner.

As regards the second case, that of a child named Magill, there is nothing to show that the necessary care and professional treatment were wanting, or that any means could have averted the fatal result, which Dr. Knox states depended on a very common cause, namely, the supervention of diarrhcea and debility on a bad form of measles.

In this, as in the previous case, Dr. Knox observes that the most material facts appear either to have been unknown by Mr. Byron or suppressed by him. But he alleges that he acted on the information of Mrs. Hill, the fever hospital nurse, in making the charge. The mother of the child says she did not complain of the doctor at the time, and that she had no complaint to make; and Mrs. Hill's evidence that she made a complaint to the master of the workhouse on the night of the child's death is directly contradicted by him, and he positively swears that in this respect her deposition is false. The next instance of alleged neglect put forward by Mr. Byron, at the instance of Mrs. Hill, is to the effect that Dr. Shaw went into the fever hospital on the evening of the 7th May, and did not look at one of the patients. But the complaint omits to show, as explained by Dr. Shaw, that he had visited and had prescribed for the patients on the morning of that day, and that his visit in the evening, as must have been perfectly well known to Mrs. Hill, was merely to ascertain whether anything particular required his attention. It is manifest that this was not a fair or proper statement to put forward in proof of neglect of duty on the part of the medical officer.

The remaining case of alleged neglect relates to the case of a man named Irwin, but there is no more foundation for it than there is in either of the others, and it seems unnecessary to make any further observations on the charge. Neither does any notice of the charge that boys were discharged from the infirmary without examination by the doctor appear to be necessary, further than to observe that it was frivolous, and brought forward without foundation. Dr. Shaw certainly does appear to have indiscreetly given small sums of money to each of the three pauper nurses. His explanation is, that the money was given to them for their kindness to the sick and the severities of their duties in hospital, and the evidence does not prove that this was not the case. Dr. Shaw has no doubt since seen the great indiscretion of the course he pursued in these instances and will not be likely to repeat it.

As regards the alleged harshness to the child of a workhouse inmate named Sarah Balance, it may be that Dr. Shaw did not evince so much forbearance as was desirable; but there is nothing whatever to show that the death of the child was in any way connected with the circumstances deposed to, and the mother of the child directly contradicts the evidence of Mrs. Hill and her daughter, Miss Hill, on this point. Dr. Shaw admits that he instructed the nurse in the use of a female catheter. It appears to have been used in the instance in question before the arrival of the doctor in the morning with safety and advantage; but the employment of a catheter by any person other than the medical attendant is not without much risk, and Dr. Shaw's attention should be directed to this point.

The two charges made with a view to show that the medicines in the surgery were not secure do not appear to involve more than the fact that both Miss M'Neice and Mrs. Hill have some supplies of laudanum for general use, and that the former has, for requisite purposes, access to the surgery.

The facts as to the charge that a pauper compounds medicine by permission of Dr. Shaw do not appear to involve anything more than the discharge of some usual and necessary manual offices, and by no means sustain the imputation desired to be coneyed by Mr. Byron, that a pauper has been allowed to compound medicines in the proper sense of the term.

This completes the substance of the complaints put forward by Mr. Byron, aided by Mrs. Hill and her daughter, against Dr. Shaw; and, taking the I whole circumstances into consideration, the Commissioners are unable to come to the conclusion that Mr. Byron was actuated by a sense of duty and regard for the sick in bringing forward charges, the effect of which might have been disastrous to Dr. Shaw as a Union officer and professional man.

On the contrary, it appears to them that the charges have been made in a reckless and vindictive, spirit, and that there is evidence that the course he adopted was in pursuance of a preconcerted plan between him (the schoolmaster), the fever hospital nurse, and her daughter, Miss Hill. Miss Hill has already resigned the situation which she held under the Board of Guardians, but had she not done so, the Commissioners are of opinion that it would not have been desirable that she should have continued in the service of the Union; and they are of opinion that neither Mr. Byron nor Mrs. Hill should be continued in the offices which they hold. The Commissioners have accordingly directed the issue of an order under seal for Mr. Byron's dismissal, and they recommend that Mrs. Hill be called on at once to resign. The Commissioners have come to this conclusion independently of the circumstances connected with the continued visits of Mr. Byron to Mrs. Hill's apartment, contrary to the frequent remonstrances of the workhouse master. But those circumstances evince an insubordinate feeling on his part which was not discountenanced by Mrs. Hill.

(By order of the Commissioners) B. Banks, Chief Clerk. Mr. Turtle was of the opinion that the schoolmaster showed great vindictiveness. The Board might never have heard a single syllable from him had it not been for Dr. Shaw's speaking to Mrs. Hill in reference to the irregularities which existed. When the master of the workhouse remonstrated with him, he was told to mind his own business and not interfere. The schoolmaster acted in a most insubordinate manner. With regard to Dr. Shaw, he had been a long time connected with the Board, and had been receiving a - very small salary. He thought the Board should in some manner mark their appreciation of his services, and he begged to give notice of motion that he would move that Dr. Shaw's salary be increased by £20. Several members having expressed their satisfaction at the tone of the Commissioners' letter.

The Chairman called up Mr. Byron and Mrs. Hill, and informed them of the Commissioners' decision that the former should be dismissed, and the latter be called on to resign. Mrs. Hill immediately sent in her resignation. Both were then escorted from the premises.

The Board adjourned at an early hour.

Compiled by Ken Austin