THE BASE HOSPITAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2384, 13 February 1915, Page 8

THE BASE HOSPITAL

WOMEN AT WORK

FURNISHING THE INSTffiJUON >

The Wellington Town Hall 'has been the scene of a. sery great deal of activity during the last six months, and even on purely personal grounds there is h baud of worthy Wellington, women who will be very pleased \vhen the war is over. ' Week in week out during all these months of war the women of Wellington have toiled ceaselessly to provide the New Zealand troops with necessaries and comforts, and they have succeeded wonderfully.

Yesterday a now enterprise was added to the list of undertakings, and once again the Town Hall was made the headquarters of the movement.

The new movement is the furnishing with bedding, etc., of the base hospital which is to be built at Trentham military camp. The Mayoress (Mts. J. P. Luke) was asked by the ohairman of the. British Medical Association in Wellington (Dr. J. S. Elliott) if she would institute a movement-which would give the public an opportunity of donating beds and bedding for the hospital; and Mrs. Luke decided to'arraiige sewing bees at which everything required iu the line mentioned could be prepared for dispatch to Trentham. It was understood that matters in connection with the erection of the hospital would by now be a little further advanced than they are, so the.first of the sewing bees was held yesterday. Tho New Carpenters.' About thirty women attended,, everyone worked enthusiastically, and great progress was made. The workshop is ■the cloakroom, a department of the municipal edifice which is situated in .a somewhat- obscure portion of the building. More suitable, rooms for the purpose are already in use for the pre: paration of other ware for soldies. The city councillors' cloakroom is filed almost to the ceiling with parcels upon parcels of things for -the Maori contingent, and the corridor leading to the Council Chamber is bestrewn with cases of socks, clothing, - and so on, destined for lie use of other New Zealand forces. Such, more or' less, has been the state of things at tie Town Hall for months past. An interesting side to the operations which the women have been conducting so long is the increased proficienoy these_ willing workers have shown in the hitherto masculine art of carpentry. When anyone hears the hammer whacking'with n very expert ring they need liot- expect to discover a man behind it; it will be simply one of the Mayoress's first lieutenants putting a lid on a case of gifts.' Yesrte'rday afternoon a meeting of one of: the chief committees of the City Council was -kept waiting for some time because £ member of an amateur athletic body (whose presence was required at the meeting) • had to be requisitioned to make a non-pro-fessional assault on a packing case which one of tho ladies had found impossible to open. The, ex-athlete -.took .so long over the job i/hat/the conclusion arrived at was that tho case-had-been nailed up by one of the other ladies. A Cenerous Publio. Tho Best bee for the bass. hospital furnishings was to have been held today, but it was decided yesterday afternoon to postpone it .till Tuesday. The room yesterday was 'heavily,-laden with towels, sheetings, counterpains, packages of pyjamas, and other- things sick-men are likely-to-need.- There is every evidence that the public have already given generously for this part of the undertaking. Yesterday , £10 10s. was received' from Mr. Martin Kennedy, £10 from Mrs. J. P. Firth, £5 from a lady friend, and £1 Is. from Miss Natham. Persons desirous .of subscribing may send donations to ihe secretary, Miss Sybil Nathan, of 96 Hobson Street.

Twenty-five completely equipped beds are needed, and fifteen have already been provided.. Twenty of the beds wiil be for patients, and five for attendants! The cost of providing . a bed, bedding, and ■ tho other things considered necessary for the comfort and welfare of the patients' is £15. .

An interesting sidelighton the furnishing of the institution is that -while the hospital is being erected and equippsd &s s, thing absolutely necsssary inthe interests of the troops, from all parts of New Zealand, Wellington may i V j ,to hear almost the whole of the burden. The Mayoress wrote to the Mayoresses of Ilunedin, Ghristchurch, and Auckland on the subject, but so far has not received a single offer of assistance. Dunedin did reply, but Auckland and Christchurch have not dene so.