The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, July 22, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 24, 22 July 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, July 22, 1863.

We are no alarmists, but we cannot longer refrain from urging upon the Government of this Province, and the inhabitants of Queenstown, the necessity of an immediate opening of the Hospital at Frankton. We believe that it is as much the duty of the people as of the Government to subscribe for this purpose ; and we must say that, amid the many shortcomings of the Executive, they have not been lax in this matter. It was intimated, some time ago, that two pounds would be subscribed from the public treasury for every one that would be subscribed otherwise. A small sum, then, is only necessary to open the Hospital at once. A large ward in the building at Frankton is completed, and would contain many of the poor fellows presently lying in our midst, in all the various stages of scurvy and dysentery. We believe that Dr. Pelley has been able, as yet, to attend to the majority of the cases; and considering the nature of them, and the wretched manner in which the majority of the patients are housed, it is matter of astonishment to us that monumental tombstones are not a more pro-1 minent feature of our picturesque terrace. We cannot, however, disguise from ourselves or the public the fact of death knocking at our door more frequently of late; and unless ' immediate action be taken in the matter of the Hospital, blame will lie on the conscience . of every one of us. The occupation of a digger in ordinary circumstances, is one that renders him liable to accidents, but more particularly on the Shot- ! over is the digger obnoxious to hurt by flood and fell. We know that we speak the truth when we assert that many a mangled wretch on the Upper Shotovcr has been subjected to frightful sufferings, in tents, who would have endured less had there been an accessible re-

fuge to which to carry him. We know that there are in Queenstown men confined with diseases which, in the wards of a well-regu-lated Hospital, would yield quickly to proper treatment, but whose constitutions will be broken down, and whose diseases will not be healed, while lying on damp ground, even though they should realize all the balm in Gilead, or secure the attention of the first physician there. There are women, too, among us, wrestling with death in the midst of destitution; and we would urge upon the women of Queenstown to help us in this matter with their influence. It would be invidious to particularize, but we know of one good wife in Queenstown who has done this without prompting; and we say to the rest—go and do likewise Our new Warden has now an opportunity of doing something that will at once prove to the inhabitants whether or not he possesses the energy and acumen which were so much the attributes of his predecessor. He is empowered to collect subscriptions—let him call a meeting anent the matter, and have a committee appointed to do it. One ward of the Hospital is finished; let him open it now, or procure the authority of Government to do so speedily. He has the assistance of a surgeon of skill. Let us hope, then, since things are in so fair a train, that twenty-four hours will not be suffered to elapse without action being taken in the matter.