Subramania Ayyar, J.

1. This is an application under Act XXXIV of 1858 for a declaration that one Nagappa Chetti is of unsound mind incapable of taking care of himself and his property, and for the appointment of a committee to take charge of his person and his estate.

2. Nagappa married two sisters, of whom the mother of the petitioner is the second wife, whilst the mother of the counter-petitioner is the first wife. The petitioner is the second of Nagappas three sons, of whom the counter-petitioner is the eldest.

3. The petitioner called three witnesses, who are some of the neighbours of Nagappa. The first witness, Muttusami Naidu, stated that the witness has known Nagappa for the last ten or twelve years, that he has for many years been subject to periodical mental derangement, that on such occasions he goes about interfering with people passing along the streets and behaving otherwise in an eccentric manner, that when this is the case he is locked up in his house until he gets better again, and that the last time he was so confined was about twenty days ago when the witness found Nagappa near the Triplicane tank giving trouble to the people there and took him to the counte