THE COTTAGE HOSPITAL.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4410, 13 May 1909, Page 3

THE COTTAGE HOSPITAL.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —As a visitor to your charming township I should like to say that I endorse all that has been said by your • numerous correspondents on the above j matter, and I am not surprised that the ' tone of the correspondence is one of indignation, I can assure you that it was no little surprise to me to learn that no provision has been made in this neighbournood for scases of accident, in the shape of a Hospital, and consequently patients have to be taken to a neighbouring town some <3O miles distant. I am informed that when trains are not convenient the sick and injured have to be conveyed this long distance in a buggy over rough roads. That deaths have occurred on the way is not surprising, the wonder is that any survived such a trying ordeal. This neglect on the part of those responsible is a scandal, and somebody ought to be brought to book for being the cause of it, or for permitting such a state of affairs to continue. It cannot be said that the necessary funds are not available, for the money spent in the erection of the Tea Kiosk in the Domain would have gone far towards building a, Cottage Hospital. Speaking as an invalid visitor and on behalf of such who come to Te Aroha in search of health, I would ask where, in the event of a relapse, are invalids from a distance to go for proper nursing ? Surely a busy boarding-house is no place for one in such a condition, even if the proprietor could be bothered with such a person on their premises. I claim that delicate visitors have as much right for consideration as trippers have, yet I find the tripper may enjoy his afternoon cup of tea in a grand kiosk, while the wants of the invalid F.rj left in abeyauce. What I have said on behalf of the invalid applies with even greater force to the case of the settlors in the neighbourhood. A good deal of money has been spent on the Domain to make the place attractive, and I think wisely spent; but whether the provision of a Cottage Hospital be viewed fr< m the same commercial standpoint or from the point of humanity I think there should be no further delay in putting an end to the present scandalous arrangements for the sick and injured. Many hard and sinful cases have b en 1 brought home to the capitalist and land-owner in the Old Country in their dealings with the toiler, but to their credit it can never he said that they have failed in their duty in preventing unnecessary pain and suffering to the working classes in their day of sickness. The Hospitals of England stand as monuments of unselfishness and sympathy. In this all important malter New Zealand is behind and I shall have vciy great difficulty on my return home, to convince my friends of the Liberty and excellent laws the New Zealander enjoys, when I have to add that the statesmen of this country, tc med by its citizens *• God’s Own Country ” attach more importance to the provision of a tea room to that of a Hospital.—l am, etc., Geeald A. McGuire, of Liverpool. Te Aroha, 12th May. 1909. ON BALL CARTRIDGE. To the Editor. Sir, —A little time back when scanning the papers for items of a practical turn, I dropped on a sentence that rivifed and almost paralyzed my attention. It was on the programme for the Volunteers in tbeir Autuuiu manoeuvres down about Wellington, and ran thus : “ During the first series of manoeuvres the troops shall be supplied with blank cartridge, and the latter part with ball.” Ball cartridges in a sham fight in Volunteer practice, ball cartridge, the Lord belli us ! Who- ! ever heard of such a thing ? A lot of bullets flying through the air, without any definite object, yet certain to inflict injury or death to any living object they came across. Why with all the Military enthusiasm of Ilie French or Germans I never saw that ball cartridges wore issued to the troops engaged in a sham fight. The idea of the thing. No doubt the innovation was introduced by the De< fence Department as something new, original, and spicy, to impart zest to the Volunteer movement. An element of danger, a something n:w and spicy will sound the death !knell of the Volunteer system, for I do not think that at any of the autumn manoeuvres the opposite bodies of men will be exactly in the prescribed place at the exact appointed time,, so that the bullets might go whizzing ] not into empty space, but into another holy c.f men. A sham, earnest Gate : Pah enacted over again. Leave ball cartridges for the Russians with their bloody Sundays but do not endanger tfio lives or nsofullness of our fighting men whde they are simply learning to fight. Ball cartridge, indeed ! What next!? -I ain, etc , H. J Hawkins.