"THE SILVER MEDAL."

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2897, 9 October 1916, Page 2

"THE SILVER MEDAL."

FOR BRAVERY IN LIFE-SAVING. -The honour conferred upon Miss Kitty Doughty, of Karaka Bay,'for 'bravery in life-saving, is a-liigh one. The Royal Life Saving Society has six ?.wards, for commendable acts' in connection with the saving of life.. They are as follow (commencing at tho lowest) : —A letter of commendation; an unf ramed certificate; a framed certificate: the bronze medallion; the silver medal; and .the gold medal.. Thus it will he-seen--that . Miss Doughty-ob-tained the next highest award possible.' That was probably,...owing ; to several •reasons deduced -in-evidencej -the-cliicf. *ofi-> which was .that when th'o unfortu-' nate woman concerned threw herself into tho water from the wharf, Miss Doughty was in her garden ,at tho top of the hill, and seizing'tho situation in a, moment, she liad to-rush-pell-mell down the hill as fast as she could, with the resuHP-thaj;'. she. was quite ,out of .breath when she jumped-to the rescue, ana, then, not .being able to get .on to the stringers of the wharf, she had to swim with her charge into the beach. To a fine swimmer like Miss Doughty, who - : swims nearly every day in the summer, the act itself was not ■perhaps a remarkable one, but undoi the conditions in which it; was performed made it -an exceedingly meritorious action. _ The gold medal of the -society is only earned by an act .of most conspicuous bravery, - usually a. deliberate act of heroism, not one di7/s on the spur of the moment. 1 To, illustrate what is meant, one has only to illustrato how a gold medal was won in the South Island. It concerned a wash-away 011 a railway line. A railway man ■ was speeding long the line on a trolley, and before he was aware of it he pitched"? *&> the canyon that had been formed by "the flood watefs, that had carried away the embankment. Both the .'man's- legs.-were'J,broken, ..yet, in an agony of pain, he- dragged himself by degrees up the bank and along .the line,' and managed to stop the train,-which would surely Jiave been smashed to matchwood, probably with the-loss of many lives. ! 1 As. soon as the awards arrive from Christchurch, Miss Doughty, Mr.' Middleditcb, and Mr..A-.Black will lig presence! with tH9ir awards, at a function' that will probably bo held in the. Boys' Institute.