AN APPRECIATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1615, 26 September 1916, Page 3

AN APPRECIATION.

OP DRS. MARTIN AND GUTHRIE,

FROM PALMERSTON BRANCH BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. A special meeting of members of the Palmerston North Division of the British Medical Association was held on Saturday, when- the following members were present:—Dr. Greig (chairman), Drs. Bett, Whitaker, Barnett, and Stendahl, of Palmerston North; Dr. Watson, of Bulls; Dr. Mandl, of Foxton; and Dr. Livesey, of Feilding. Drs. KerrHislop, of Foxton, and Philips, of Feilding, sent messages of regret at their unavoidable absence. It was unanimously decided to insert the following appreciation of their late comrades’ services in the minutes of the Association, and to adopt the resolutions as hitherto appended: —

“The news of the death in battle of Dr. T. E. Guthrie, one of our most, regular and constant members at all meetings, and of Dr. A. A. Martin, is received by the Palmerston North Division of the British Medical Association with the very deepest sorrow. “All of us knew the sterling worth of Thomas Errol Guthrie. He was ready always to give attention to the business of the Association, to aid it in its work, and to participate in every act of benevolence or courtesy to other members. He carried on quietly and unassumingly a very successful practice; his work in Feilding, it is unnecessary to add, was rendered gratefully and well. .Soon after the war he gave his services to his country, and finally his life, dying bravely in the trench lines on (he western front. “Arthur Anderson Martin filled a. wider space in the medical and surgical work of New Zealand by reason of his early connection with the Palmerston North Hospital during a period of reconstruction in technique and ideas, and because of the pecularly high abilities with which he was endowed. His death under similar circumstances arrives almost with the feeling of calamity, for there must necessarily be few of his outstanding and commanding surgical genius in such a small country as our own. Both these men were personal friends. Many of us worked with Arthur Martin constantly; others enjoyed the opportunity of entering upon close terms of companionship in work and pastime, and so had the privilege of knowing him in all the varied phases of his wonderful personality. It would be superfluous of us to eulogise the. thoroughness of the surgical genius which he stamped permanently upon the public Hospital, while rendering untold services to the public of the town and district and to his country, but we wish here to place* on record in the minutes of the Association our appreciation of the nature of his work and of bis splendid death —a sacrifice in complete accordance 1 with his life. “In our judgment hie line! achieveet the final suci'ess, in that he had lived bravely, laughed often, and loved well. He had attained the height of his ambition in that he had.gained the respee-1 anel attention eit inlelligent men, the friendship of his fellows, and the love ol little children. No man who could get word with Arthur Marlin in a leisure 1 hour ever forgot his earnest anel extraordinary e-harm, or failed to profit by the interchange of view. None feared to ae-eepl Destiny at his hand. Like every brave man should, he made some enemies. He never laeiked appreciation of Earth’s beauty. He possessed the power of noticing essentials, and the facility for expressing his mind concerning them in word anel writing. Many of his judgments are engraved wisely upon the minds of the public, anel will so remain. The monument which his enthusiasm raiseiel, the work which he stimulated by his own untiling industry and example, and by the use of which he gave untold value to the inhabitants, lies on the hill overlooking the town in which he lived and worked. It is the public Hospital. “This Division of the British Medical Association hereby resolves to erect a tablet, in a position and at a period to be agreeel upon later, recording the loss by death in battle with the German mil ion, of Captain Thomas Errol Guthrie, M. 8., B.Ch., honorary surgeon to the Hospital, who died from shell fire on the Western front while in the execution of his l eluly; and of Major Arthur Anderson Martin, M. 8., B.Ch., F'.R.C.S. Eelin., who died under the same circumstances anel with like valour on September I.7th, 1916, to whose genius the Hospital owes an unpayable debt, and his colleagues and the staff an undying memory. Of both of them it may be truly said: “ ‘Their death is an inspiration; their memory a benediction.’

“And of Arthur Martin; ‘Si Monumentum requiris, hoc valetudinarian! circumspiee. Splendidum ultra spice caelum.’ “ ‘lf you seek his monument, look around you at this Hospital. Carry your thoughts further; Heaven is brighter because of it.’ ”