The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 21, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1961, 21 December 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 21, 1906.

1 To day tho Hospital Trustees meet to discuss important business, and in the conclusions to be arrived at there can be no two opinions if the best thing is to bo done in the interests of the public, who find tho money to support the institution and those of the people who have unfortunately to make use of it in times of sickness and accident. That it is the intention of the Trustees to do the right thing wo have no reason to doubt, and there need be no timidity about it either, for public Opinion has already bo strongly manifested itself in tho direction which the Trustees should follow that if there be one of them plucky enough to disx regard' that opinion he may expect a lively time later on. So emphatic has public opinion become on this question that the one who would advocate a continuauce of recent conditions could not be found to-day with a search warrant, and oven our sedate contemporary, who mildly and timorously suggested a few weeks ago that “everything in the garden was lovely” and that no notice should be taken of I our strictures in the direction of reform, has now admitted its mistake and performed one mors somersault in order that it may appear to be advocating the right thing for once in a while. These somersaults cannot, of course, be performed too often without loss of dignity, so an excuse has to be found for them, and we have the excuse that some years ago the self.=ame wise, sedate, and timorous

journal had “ suggested n something similar to what is now quite certain to eventuate. That is all right if one could only forget the other “ suggestion " of a few weeks ago that the

resent system was all that could be

desired, and that thoro wr.3 nothing to find fault within the management. Indeed our invertebrate contemporary appears to feed upon “ suggestion ” like the spooks that are said to flit around spiritualistic seances, and it went so far as to “ suggest” that the

Times wns raising on unnecosimy and groundless “ t-.carjil.ai ” in regard to hoopitul wunageruont wldch it ia now ready to “ suggest ” should ho iVitero l in accordance wii h the oniphatic o;: preasions of public opinion and the Times. l-’rofeasionnl “ou ggesters,” like other people with an unenviable reputation, should have good memories in order to bo successful, and fail ing that neconsnvy gift even a emi

lngiuous vertebra would bn a dintino; advantage ; but us there in no trace ol calcium in the chemical composition oi a “suggestion” thorn is not much hop© for our contemporary uutil ii changes its diot and habits of living A “ suggostiou ” is a sweet, toothsome thing in its way, sometimos ; but, like some confectionors’ condiments that assist decay of the tooth, it is ofton destructive of that rigid adhesion so necessary to the formation of solid substances ; honco its unsuitability as a sola literary diot At any rate it is not all that is required on an up-to-dato hospital menu, though it may bo uaoful if stiffened up a bit by the admixture of a thing called principle as a corrective of sourness in the treatment of patients. It needs, however, to be used by skilful hands and administered in more frequent and rogular doses than “ several years ” intervals. However, it is cheering to learn of our contemporary’s desire, even at the risk of its own dignity, to support the Turns’ advocacy of a matter that calls for prompt action in the interests of suffering humanity, and to know that it will not allow any prejudices to stand in the way in following our load when it soos that no other course is open without grave danger. While appreciative of this high compliment we cannot accept the “ suggestion ” that any “ complaints ” “ have been made against the nursing staff,” for wo recognise that the matron does not comprise the whole staff, and she is the only one that has been assailed in the least degree. The complaint that has been made against her (not of our making, however) i 3 that she has varied the doctor’s treatment on her own responsibility, and if that is true she ought to be placed in such a position as to make it impose sible for her to repeat the practice, while, on the othor hand, if it is untrue, it is due to her professional reputation as a matter of common justice that she should be publicly exonerated from the charge. The whole position is perfectly clear for the Trustees to deal with, and by this time to-morrow the public ought to be in possession of their final decision without the aid of further “ suggestions.”