SAVING A BABY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 1, 3 January 1939, Page 11

SAVING A BABY

QUICK TRIP BY AIR

JOURNEY IN MAIL BAG

(Special to the "Evenino Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Wrapped in cotton wool and a blanket and placed in a Canvas mail bag, a baby weighing only 2Jib' made an air trip from Great Barrier to Auckland at the age of two hours on Saturday morning.

An urgent message was received from the island by Dr. R. Nicks in the early hours of the morning. He at once communicated with SquadronLeader D. M. Allan, and they took off from the Mangere Aerodrome at 4.30 a.m. The machine landed at the. Kaitoke Aerodrome on the island, and the doctor was taken in a waiting truck to a farmhouse about a mile away.

A child had been born shortly before the doctor's arrival. The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Connell, of Clevedon, were spending a holiday on the island. The mother was well. *

It was decided to take the baby boy to Auckland for special attention and, after he had been wrapped up securely, the aeroplane took off again for Mangere at 6.40 a.m. The doctor held the child in the mail bag on his knee during the trip. After Mangere was reached, the baby was taken to the Karitane Hospital, and is being cared for in the special premature ward. His condition caused some anxiety on Sunday night, but yesterday he seemed to be holding his own, although it will be several weeks before it is known how he will develop.