Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1907.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43070, 19 March 1907, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1907.

This above all —to thine own self be true, An l it must follow as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

Beyond the placing of the sum of £3OO on the Estimates towards the erection of an emergency ward at Te Aroha, nothing further seems to have been done either by the Tourist Department or by the local bodiefe. Yet there is just as much, if not rather more, need for the establishment at the present moment, a? there was when enthusiasm over the movement was at its height some few months ago. But when one considers the expense attached to the founding of an institution of this kind, however small, it is not very surprising that with tb r e sum of only £3OO available to provide building, furniture, and medical accessories, no further move has been made in the matter. The matter is essentially one in which the Tourist Department should be deeply interested, as representing the Government which has now such a big interest in Te Aroha. The local bodies cannot vote any very substantial sum towards this project, nor should they be expected to, and as it is so palpably evident that suitable accommodation should be provided in Te Aroha for the reception of tourists or visitors who are seized with illness or relapse, the voting of such a small sum as £3OO is merely playing with the question. Proofs of the necessity for the emergency ward are not by any means scarce, and as being typical of many cases that occur we mention the case of an Auckland young man whose doctor ordered him to Te Aroha for,a cure. Accompanied by a relative, he camedown, and after having a few baths,, had a more acute : attack of the rheumatic trouble. He was staying at a well-appointed boardinghouse, where everything possible was done and i he kindest treatment given. But

the "best attentions cannot always take the place of trained attendants, and so this patient, in the absence of the proposed emergency ward, where , he would have been under the con- ■; stan t care of a trained nurse, suffered : a vast amount of pain which might ? have been avoided had the means! been at hand. It was at fir* l thought that as there was no proper accommodation here, the patient would have to return to Auckland, from which his doctor had sent him! But the agony of a five hours’ jolting on the railway line would have been a cruel infliction, and was only avoided by a sudden turn for the

better allowing the sufferer to remain here, of course under medical care. When one realises that such cases where untold suffering has to be endured by fellow human beings are frequent occurrences, it seems cruel that some provision for their relief is not speedily provided, and that owing to the present conditiom.O’L things, invalids should be placed in the position of wondering whether they dare venture to Te Aroha or not. The present state of things is a distinct handicap to both the splendid system of bath-houses in the Domain, and also to those who provide accommodation for visitors to the town. Even were Te Aroha not a tourist resort at all, numerous accidents and fatalities that have occurred in the district would alone suggest that an emergency institution was a necessity, but when the large number of visitors to Te Aroha, many of them in a frail state of health, is considered, the need is doubly emphasised, and we trust that the Tourist Department will not be allowed to quietly drop a matter which, whilst benefiting suffering humanity, will also benefit the Department’s enterprise m the Domain.