The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1920. HOSPITAL CARNIVAL WEEK.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3622, 8 November 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1920. HOSPITAL CARNIVAL WEEK.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News ”

On Sunday the residents of Taihape and district commenced a campaign of fund raising in aid of the j Taihape hospital. It is recognised that the local hospital is not keeping j pace with the increase and expansion of settlement; many* 1 accessories to render it able to meet the demands made upon'Tt have now become urgent j necessities, and as there is no public | fund which can be drawn upon for j such things the people of the town and j district have decided to Once more j help themselves from their own prb | vate resources. The town and district | were denied a hospital, hut that denial j neither discouraged nor deterred a generous-minded people from securing a place where the maimed and sick from amongst them could receive prompt and careful attention. Since its erection by the aid of public subscriptions Taihape people have displayed something approaching an inflexible to keep their hospital right up to the highest pitch of usefulness possible. No deaf eat has yet been turned to any appeal for hospital needs, and there are strong indications that the appeal now current is not going to be met with any less generous response than were those appeals of the past. It stands to the everlasting credit of British people that they have always displayed a generous concern for their sick, injured and diseased, but medioeval civilisations have set a very fine, humane example for present day civilisations, which is not being followed as it might and 'should be some countries. Even the United States has lagged behind Britain in the matter of hospital provision. The Americans have their large institutions, show hospitals, which arc schools of medicine as well as of surgery, but unlike the British people they have not provided hospital accommodation in all small centres. Wherever there is a British settlement there is a hospital of some sort; in fact hospitals figure largely in British history and tradition. The desire to help the helpless and succour the needy seems to be'hereditary lamongst British people, for looking back for hundred? of year? there js some provision made in continuation - of the old ■hospitia of- the ancients. The great hospitals of London may be said to have commenced with St. Thomas’ in 1553; St. Bartholomew’s in 1546; Bethlehem in 1547; then soon followed the now world-renowned Guy’s Hospital, erected by, and at the expense of Thomas Guy, to which the first patient was admitted in 1725, the building having taken three years to erect. As Guy amassed great wealth in rather a discreditable way, a way only render- 3 ed possible by the Queen Anne wars, it may be said, in passing, that he was an exploiter of the man-o-warsmen of his day. He purchased prize tickets of seamen at a grossly unfair discount, and by subsequently investing them in South Sea Company Stock he got well on the way to becoming a millionaire. Guy like Carnegie are instances of men possessing a'most opposite qualities; men who oppress and injure th °ir fellows in the irre.usr.ble quest for wealth, then apply themselves most assiduously in disbursing their hordes for the betterment of mankind. They support the contention that no man is.entirely had, for the name of Thomas Guy is likely to go down into the dimmest future as one of the world’s greatest benefactors, despite the fact that be exploited the naval prize ticket holders of his day. The Scotch people, as well as the British, had their “Spitals? wherever requisite for the isolation and care of lepers, for leprosy at one time was one of the greatest scourges of Europe. But “Spita;si” came into existence to meet all needs, the general hospitals being primarily to mitigate bodily suffering, whether that arose from natural or accidental causes. They were regarded, in those old days, as indispensable "US a refuge for all who were unable to pay for private medical or surgical aids, also as a convenient and humane means of succour on emergencies to person? of every rank and every degree of opulence. The object, aim and purpose of our Taihape hospital is the same to-day. The people of this district have made it a place of refuge for all classes whether rich or poor; to meet any emergency, whether it be a terrible railway catastrophe, some great pioneering misfortune as a result of accident in land-clearing, in public works building, or in the frequently recurring isolated cases on our farms and in bur factories. " Britons of hundreds of years ago equipped their hospitals with every accessory

then known to medical science, and Britons in these South Seas to-day realise that they are not keeping step with their forefathers if they allow their hospitals to drift into mere places* of makeshift. The great war has done much to inculcate knowledge of how to save human life; medical and surgical science and practice have been given an impetus in advancement that is not likely to flag as memories of war-sufferings become less distinct. The Taihape hospital is largely called into requisition for succouring men who have fought and suffered in the war, and, if only on that score alone, it is a duty that cannot be honourably or humanely shirked, fff make the hospital all that it can be made for the saving of those soldier lives, and for alleviating soldier suffering. Woman has taken no small part in hospital work; it is too fresh in memory to make it necessary 10 mention what part woman played in the great war. Woman has proved herself the universal sister; woman is untiring in her efforts to alleviate suffering and save life; by her influence she is the greatest of reformers; in fact, it may be truly said that woman Is the test of our civilisation; woman’s sphere is world-wide —limitless. In hospital work woman is indispensable; sHe is in the forefront of any cum* paign aiming at any humane progress, hence the women of Taihape and the surrounding' district are found in the van of the hospital campaign that was launched yesterday, and is to continue for one' week. Wore it not for the part woman is going to play during the current week there would be little hope of achieving the success that is so urgently desirable. Man can have no hope of obtaining the money requisite for securing those hospital accessories wanted if unaided by woman, and, as in all good causes, woman will be largely responsible for whatever success the week’s efforts in raising funds for hospital equipment may result in. There is little hut what the settlers and people generally of this district will fully British hospital traditions, for there is no call that can be made upon human consideration higher, more holy and sacred than that which is to save human life and eliminate as far as possible human suffering. During the present week the hospital should be constantly in mind so that no opportunity may be missed thaf will materially help in building up such a monument to the generosity and humaneness of Taihape people, as can never be destroyed.