Scathing Denunciation.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 24 September 1918, Page 3

Scathing Denunciation.

CONVALESCENT HOME TOR SOL-

DIBRS AT KOTORXTA.

AUCKLAND, -Saturday. • A scathing denunciation of the conditions at the King George Convalescent Home for Soldiers at Rotorua was cd by Miss Murray, arid gave rise to ■discussion, at a meeting of the ,joint committee of the Auckland Bed Cross Society and Order of St. John yesterday. The report, adopted by the cornmitec, stated that £780 was Auckland's .quota towards the ercction of a soldiers' workshop at Rotorua. Ihe matter was one of great urgency, and it was hoped that there would be 110 delay in completing the work. "The whole state of affairs 'at Rotorua- issimply deplorable,'' said Miss Murray. "I visited the place recently, and 1 dont' know how the men who have been hero for several years manage to stand it. There is nothing for them to do, nowhere for them tp go, no recreation nor work. There are about two hundredyofficers and men at King George Hospital, and nearly one hundred at the Sanatorium. The Salvation Army and the Church of England provide only recreation, and while this is a great boon,th"ese institutions are entirely inadequate-to the needs at the King George Hospital. There is no. properly equipped rest or ..recreation i room; there is not even a room where the men can hang up their-.wet clothes in winter weather. They have to hang them along the sides of the sleeping room, and let the " wet 'garments drip down on their beds: They do their own laundring. I saw a one-armed man try* ing to do his.; washing the dayi I- was there. The \yholo state of .affairs there 'was aptly described by one visitor aa what one might expect to ,see in ft Maori whare. Such a condition -could not possibly exist ill any institution where there was a woman in charge,, but fi'om the very start women have, had no say in the management of the home. As representative of the Red Cross body, we should rise up and de- I mand that the Government do more for our men, or else allow us to take over the management of the place ourselves.'' Miss Murray further stated that she had been told on good authority that by the end of next yeaT there would, in all probability," be 1000 men in Rotorua, as the hospitals in . England were being cleared as rapidly as passible. Provision for a larger number of patients should therefore be made without delay. A sub-com-; m-ittee was appointed to confer wrtli the annexe committee and patriotic association, with a view, to arranging for i visit to Rotorua, for' the purpose >f making a .thorough investigation: af | the points- raised. '4 v