WELCOME TO DR. AGNES BENNETT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 126, 14 February 1918, Page 2

WELCOME TO DR. AGNES BENNETT

SUCCOURING THE SERBIANS There was a largo attendance nf members of tho I'ionecr Club and their friends < last evening to welcome l)r. Agnes Bonnott back to Wellington after the strenuous time sho hus spout on service in Egypt, and later in work among tho Serbians. Dr. Bennett was one of the founders of the club.

Lady Stout, president of tho club, welcomed Dr. Bennett back to the club, and paid tribute to wonderful work which had been done by these Scottish AVomen's Hospitals, work that was second to none anywhere.

The account which Dr. Bennett gave of the work achieved by those women's hospitals was of intense interest, and left her hearers with a vivid admiration for such gallant workers who faced privation, hardship, suffering, and death regardless of self, so that they might relieve the terrible misery and suffering that was around them. A Brief outline of the history of tho Serbian people, their enslavement by the Turks for five hundred years, from which they freed themselves finally with the help of tho Austrians, only to be enslaved by them in turn, was first given by Dr. Bennett, who then described her meeting with Dr. Elsie Inglis, witfi the result that she was induced to take chargo of one of ths Scottish Women's Hospitals for work with the Serbian Army, The first event of the war, so far as Serbia was concerned, -was the groat invasion of that country by Austria, an invasion that was pushed back with tremendous loss to the Austrians, who had 330,000 men put out of action, in which prisoners were not included. A little later came the terrible outbreak of typhus, which accounted for fully a million of Serbs alone. It was then that hospitals units wore sent to that country, several committees being formed to organise them, and these units were instrumental in saving many lives.

Still further miseries awaited the- unliapp.v Serbians, however, for the ammunition promised by Britain did not arrive in time, and the Austrians, making another heavy onslaught, tho Serbians were driven back, and ilie great retreat, which filled the world with horror, took place.' Some of the hospital units remained with tho Serbians, some were taken prisoner, and others got away to England, Dr. Elsie Inglis and her unit being one of the latter. The Serbian Army, what remained of it after the retreat, was reformed at Corfu, and later began to

attempt the task of : retailing Serbia. It was. during this advance that Dr. Bennett's hospital unit began its work, being attached to the Third Division, 'of the Serbian Army. The first battle after this re-forma-tion, was the battle of Kaymakchalen, in which the Bulgarians were heavily defeated. This was fought among the mountains, and the task of getting the wounded- attended to was-a very difficult one. . Twelve-motor ambulances were attached-to the hospital, which was on the. way. to Monastir, and was | practically a clearing station, and they found themselves very heavily pressed with work. When fit, the wounded bad to be sent oh by ambulance trains, which consisted of trucks fitted un with iron shelves, on which the wounded, were laid. These had to travel along, a single line, and it took them many hours to reach-their destination. There was -never an empty bpd in the hospital, and it was very •difficulty to. get the purses and orderlies to take' the rest which was necessary for them. Their work was magnificent.. It took Dr. Bennett and her staff five (lavs to get the. hospital set up, and all the time the wounded were waiting for admittance.' '. The only time thov wore, bombed was when they happened to have an .ammunition dump place near thenv the dumi) being the Bulgarians', objective. Neither were the other hospitals, bombed'save one, which consisted of- two 1500-bedded divisions, covering, a very great area of ground. In answer to the protest which" was sent, the Bulgarians replied that they should not have such big hospitals. Dr. Bennett described tho cold in winter as being very intense, and one of the hardships they had to endure was the scarcity of firing. Paraffin, also, was very scarce, and wood was tho only thing to fall back 'upon.'. As the.country was but sparsely timbered, they had to go sometimes as far as five miles in search of it, and, of course, that added to their work. The members of the unit, however, were nothing if not ingenious, and so a thorough search was mado for all the. empty kerosene tins that could bo found, a bole was-made in ono of the aides, and the tins were filled with sand,-and afterwards .placed one on top' of the other, in the way that bricks were placed when building a house. A tarpaulin was placed on top to form a roof, and a comparatively warm messroom or hut resulted. On sunny days the most was mado of tho sunshine, which was usually clear and bright, the patients being put outside to-enjoy a sun-bath. A vivid description was given by Dr. Bennett of air raids which took place incessantly in Salonika, and of the way ic which they prepared for them. If thev took place when an operation was being performed there was no other courso but to go on with it, and in one ease which she told of the anasthetist and an assisting doctor, both Sertis, fled promptly, regardless of anything but their own safety. Their places wore taken by women, and tho operation was successfully concluded. The Italian system of taking refuge when'an, air raid was in progress was on different lines to those followed by tne French or English. Tho Italian soldier going head first into his funkhole, usually just large enough for one, and, of course, be had to omerge feet foremost. Dr. Bennett was extremely anxious to photograph, tho exit, but the soldiers firmly refused to rehearse such a performance when no raid was taking place. Two or three stories illustrating the bravery of some of her motor ambulance drivers during tho time that raids were taking place were given, ono girl refusing to allow an Italian officer to turn any of the, men out of their "funk-holes" for her benefit. Altogether it was a. wonderful story that Dr. Bennett had to tell of what the women belonging to these hospital units were accomplishing, and ono that was most inspiring to listen to. A vote of thanks to Dr. Bonnet! for her address.was proposed by Miss Myers, and seconded by Mrs. Saluiond, both speakers emphasising the pride which the club felt in tho fact that Dr. Bennett was one cf its members, in fact ono of the founders of the club. Amortg those'who were present woro Mrs. W." F. Massey, Mrs. G. W. lUissell, and the Mayoress, Airs. J. P. Luke.