TAUPO MUST DO BETTER

Taupo Times, Volume III, Issue 140, 1 October 1954, Page 6

TAUPO MUST DO BETTER

WITH the beginning of a new business year the Taupo St. John Ambulance Association is about to begin a canvass for funds to enable it to carry on its work for the community. The service rendered by the men and women, boys and girls of the Brigade, is one that is vitally necessary. It is being provided voluntarily, and no other body or organisation, public or private, has seen fit to provide it. The Brigade receives a subsidy from the Waikato Ilospital Board. This is quite inadequate to cover expenses, and it has not increased ! since the Brigade began operations in Taupo three years ago. It has sometimes been said that an ambulance and first aid service such as the Brigade provides should be provided by the State "free of cost." Such a view may be arguable, though it does overlook the fact, so often forgotten today, that one's duty to one's neighbour cannot be fully done merely by paying taxes. It is good for men and women to interest themselves personally and directly in the duty of helping their fellows. And the holding of the view mentioned cannot excuse the holder from contributing to the cost of the Brigade's work so long as it is not financed "free of cost" by the State. Hitherto the Brigade has endeavoured to collect annual subscriptions of £1/5/- per family, which entitled the parents and children under sixteen to free ambulance service during the year. For the year about to begin the same

amount .will be regarded as a household subscription, and will entitle parents and children, and all other family members permanently attached to the household to the free service. Where two elderly people share a home, too, they will both be covered by the one household subscription of £1/5/-. During the Taupo Brigade's first year some £258 was thus subscribed. In its second year, the amount was £110. for the year now ended; £65 only has been subscribed. From 90 to 100 trips per year are made by the ambulance and some 10,000 miles covered. A paid driver is employed who drives when ambulance calls come between midnight and 5 p.m. daily, from midnight on Sunday to 5 p.m. on Friday. Outside these hours the ambulance is still driven by voluntary drivers of the Brigade. And the nurse attendant on every trip is still an unpaid voluntary member of the Nursing Division. In addition to providing their services, the people of the Brigade under go training to fit themselves for their work, giving up many hours of leisure. Without that training they, could not render the service they do. The fact that, while the work of the Brigade has increased over the past three! years, the support given by the people has dropped year by year, is 110 credit to Taupo. It is to be hoped that many more subscriptions will reward the collectors this coming month. Taupo could, and should, do better than it has done.