SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2545, 20 August 1915, Page 2

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

St. John Ambulance Acknowledgments. The St. John Ambulance and Red Cross Society wish to acknowledge the following gifts:—Mrs. H. F. .Allen, 1 balaclava, 2 handkerchiefs; Kelburn Ladies' Presbyterian Guild, 56 head bandages; Mrs. W. J. Birch, old linen; U'awera Nursing Division, 2 air-cush-ions. 2 rolls of lint, 17 roller bandages, loz. lintinc, 11 face cloths, old linen, 2lt handkerchiefs, 19 pillowslips, 2 nightingales ; inhabitants of Rarotonga (per l)r. Baldwin), 5 cases of roller bandages, 1 parcel of eye bandages; Natives of Rarotonga, 1 bundle of orange-wood walking sticks; Miss Asquith, old line"*; per Mrs. Birch (Marton), old linen; Mrs. Marshall, 1 balaclava ; Miss Hustwick, old linen; Mrs. Francis, 1 pair slippers; Mrs. Heyler, 1 balaclava, 3 face cloths. 4 eye bandages; Marton Patriotic Workers,. 32 pairs pyjamas, 45 singlets, 19 day shirts, 43 night shirts, 18 nightingales, 66 towels, 68 pillow cases, 47 pairs socks, 5 pairs bed socks, 2 blazers, 5 pairs surgical socks, 8 pairs slippers, 7§o roller bandages, 2 fracture jackets, 13 scarves, 35 balaclavas, 60 head bandages, 12 pairs underpants, 30 gun-cleaners, 3 packets of cigarettes, 53 face cloths. 456 swabs, 37 eye bandages,, 3 cakes of soap, 3 traycloths, 18 kneecaps, 22 triangular bandages, 5 elbow protectors, 24 respirators, 1 box of cigars, 12 pairs mittens; The Sunshino Guild,, 6 balaclavas, 1 pair bed socks, 1 scarf. 12 covers for jugs, 4 silk handkerchiefs. 8 roller bandages; South.Wellington Knitting Guild, G Balaclavas, 6 pairs bed socks, 12 face cloths; Miss Mills, 8 head bandages, 1 pair socks, 2 balaclavas; KimboltOn and Kiwii-ea. lied Cross Society, 2 sheets, 7 draw sheets, 32 pillow cases, 6 pairs bed socks, 6 pairs socks, 8 pairs pyjamas, 9 inanytailed bandages, 1 hot. water-bottle, 7 handkerchiefs, 4 pairs slippers, 1 pair operation stockings, 3 balaclavas, roller, bandages, 2 scarves, 4 bed sliirts, 12 towels, old linen, 19 face cloths, surgical sponges, 3 writing-pads,' 2 pillows. For the Wounded Soldiers' Fund. The opportunity of purchasing flowers, and pot plants from the stall which will' be found in Routh's Buildings, outside Miss Tendall's tea-rooms to-day from eleven to five, should commend itself to flower-lovers. M'ho are deprived of gardens, and to the many who aro anxious to assist the Wounded Soldiers' Fund, for which purpose Miss Cooper and Miss Moss, of Karori, have arranged this stall. Miss S. J. Hetherington, who has been in the service of the Wellington Hospital Board as assistant matron for five years, is to be transferred as submatroil of the Victoria. Home for Chronic Invalids. Miss Vera I'earce, the beautiful Australian, who was in "Wellington . with, the Tivoli Follies, left for Sydney by the Manuka yesterday.' She stated, in tho course of a conversation yesterday,' that the only 'marring element in a most enjoyable tour was the.receipt of the long casualty lists from the front, and the thought of tho sadness they would bring to so many, people in New Zealand. Miss Pearce has a- brother in the Australian forces, but at last advices lie was still employed in Egypt.

Nurse's Letter from Egypt. Sister Reynolds, late of the Auckland Hospital, and of Narioto Private Hospital, Hawera, and now in charge of a ward in No. 15 Hospital, Alexandria, wiitinc.to her mother, describes tho surroundings- of the nurses and something of tho conditions of life in Alexandria. She mentions, among other things, that an English regular Army nurse is in charge of the homo in which soino of the New Zealand nurses are quartered, and among them all aro nurses of English, Irish, Australian, and other nationalities, making in all about twenty-one. It is a very pretty place, and well fitted up. "One never stays long at one hospital," Sister Reynolds goes on to say. "To-day we might bo in Alexandria, and to-morrow we might be at Cairo or Port Said, and I believe that ten of us are to be drafted off to Port Said shortly to go to our own hospital. "I have not been near tho ward yet, but they take 1100 wounded hero, and there arc about GO nurses now, with plenty, of orderlies. We left all our men half-way here, and we missed them so much. We are well looked after, and the New Zealand headquarters here seem to look after their nurses the best. j It is wonderful how well wo are in health. There is a Captain Hutchons here to pay us whenever we want money, and some of the English nurses have been eleven weeks in this place and have had no money paid them. "Coming hero, I sat and looked out of my porthole till 2 a.m. It was so fascinating 1 could not leave it. There were sentries all along the Canal, and one side of it is all yellow sand, and the other side, the English side, so green and pretty.. "Ono thing about Egypt is that tho evenings are so nice and cool, but tho days very hot. This hospital has been established three months, and the first clav \i was opened 600 wounded were " received into it. There is a lot of enteric at the Dardanelles, and they aro brought into the different hospitals. We get very little war news here —too near the danger zone, I suppose. "Miss Maclean came up to the home • to see us, and we went out to afternoon tea to a very nice teasliop here. It is rather quaint the way things are done, as you take • a plate and fork, and go. round the shop, and choose your own cakes. (Is that the effect of tho Australasian influx, one wonders.) They make most delicious tea, too. "The first person I saw when I went into inv ward was Mr. Humphreys, of Cotterill and. Humphreys. He had had bronchitis, but is now quite well again, and is going back to tho Dardanelles next week. (The letter was written on July 10.) Wherever you go here you see nothing but soldiers and camps, and there seems to be no scarcity of men. There are. however, very few English residents. "In tho General Hosuital at Alexandria there are 1500 beds, and it is so sad to -seo the convoys coming in with the wounded. They are all bandaged up and cleaned beforo we get them. It takes three days to get hero from the Dardanelles, and we are the nearest hospital. There aro several military hospitals here. The French have theirs,. and tho Indians theirs, so they are not mixed up with our men." (Continued on next page.)