HOSPITAL HOAXED

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1932, Page 6

HOSPITAL HOAXED

.MYSTERY LETTERS RECEIVED. FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF WORLD. V ,-'*.’ SYDNEY, September 20., The delivery ’to the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney by post of twenty stamped and, sealed envelopes containing nothing but pieces of card- .' board and slips of newspaper, and addressed to' non-existent doctors, offici--alpo, -and nurses, made the fifteenth annual perpetration- of "the most mysterious and idiotic hoax on any public institution. The envelopes, every one of which, was addressed by a different hand, have come from all parts of the world during the last -fifteen years. They always arrive early in the spring and this year they all -bore New Zealand post marks. The hospital authorities do not know who is responsible, and they, are-puzzled by the manner ..in which the sender is enabled to have the missive posted from a different country each year. Thte sender has-never failed to address every envelope in a different style /but always the -address contains in some way either the name of Sawkins OT pr, both. The envelopes • are invariably foolscape size, and the (fetampß; that have been used must have cost a fortune. The strange bail received -included the following addresses; —Sir Lindsay Sawkins, head surgeon; Sister Middeton, head sister, Dr Henry Sawkins; Miss R-uth .'Smith, head sister, Sawkins Free Ward; Mr Lindsay Sawkins, senior surgeon; Mrs Harry Sawkins, head matron; Miss Sawkins, lady superintendent; t.he Ven. Archdeacon Sawkink, chaplain. The majority of the -letters bore the Wellington post mark, some of them being posted at Courtenay Place. _ ’For years the officials at the hospital: opened the envelopes in the- hope that they would give some clue to the “joke.” But always'they contained nothing hut blank pieces of oardboard and meaningless, pieces gf newspaper.