"Hospital Saturday."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 184, 8 August 1904, Page 2

"Hospital Saturday."

A SATISFACTORY EFFORT. As if in sympathy with the cause the weather on Saturday was all that could be desired for the united effort niu.de by a miinfber of ladies on behalf of the fund (or t:>e erection of an annexe at the hospital to enable the "open-air!" treatment of con- | i.umiptive patients to be moi'e ellici- > ently undertaken. For sonio days past an onergetic ! committee had been at work arranging details, and early uai Saturday morning the Rod Cross volunteers j paraded at the. Hospital Board offic- i es, had badges and collecting boxes I served out to them, aired wero detailed to their various posts or boats. Forty ladies presented themselves promptly to time, and as promptly received tihoir commissions and their boxes. As •already hinted, the canvass of the town and its- environs i wns , a most thorough one, not a house escaping a visit from one or other of 'the collectors. Tho result, as may be imagined, was a very substantial sum of money to help along the fund ; a sum exceeding the most sanguine expectations of the promoters. Ladies made descents upon Waitarn and Inejlewood also during the day, with very satisfactory results. The latter place, it may here be mentioned, has been very, generous in the matter of subscriptions, independently of Saturday's collection toward the fund. When at about nine o'clock on Saturday, the closing hour of the campaign arrived, the Mayor, Mr R. Cock, who is also chairman of the Hospital .Hoard, attended with Mr J. C. George, secretary to tho "Hospital Saturday" movement, Dr. Valintino, Assistant Chief Health Officer (who took keen interest and an activo part in the crusade), Dr. Leatham, hospital surgeon, Mr C. M. Lepper, secretary to the hoard, and a large number of the ladies who had taken part, to boo the "summing up" of the day's work. Tho total, with four boxes to come ini, was £204 l!is rid. To this must be added the sum of £366 12s Gd already ■subscribed.anil a further amount of about £SO to come in from Inglewood, besides various sums yet received, which will moke a total in sight, including Government subsidy, of about £I3OO to make a. start with the building. llefore the gathering dispersed Mr Oock and Dr. Valintine thanked the ladies and all who had assisted to carry tho effort through to such a successful termination. The, latter expressed his personal thanks to all the members of the committee, and his especial gratification that his estimate of the liberality of his recent fellow settlers in Taranaki had not been 100 sanguine. His expectations had been more than realised, and the result was a credit to the community.

It was'decided at a meeting of the "Hospital Saturday" Committee to hold a ball on the third Thursday in September. The members of the committee are to meet at 3.30 this afternoon in Mr .1. C. George's gardens, when the group will Ibc photographed. Somo curious flotsam and jetsam found its way into the collecting boxes at times, though on the whole such contributions formed but a part. The genial AssistantChief is the proud possessor of a : • of shirt, bottoms as a result of ti. day's work. Lady collectors who made a descent upon the shipping at Taranuki's river port created a diversion on the steamer K-ia Ora. The mate was astonished to observo a sudden and unaccountable activity amongst tho hands, and to see an instant later a procession diving down into the darksome depths of tho fo'k'sle.- Sailor men are usually considered unversed in the ways of the landsman, but (in this case, at any rate) they divined tho mission of the landswo-ina-n pretty correctly. Tho unsuspecting superior officer turned in timeto be caught 'by the lady collectors, and after being bled himself decided that ho would not suffer alono. So down "Re wont, and presently a sadfaced crew hove in sight with their offerings of small change, regretfully meditating the while upon the hardness of tho road of life, even upon a coasting steamer.