WANGANUI'S MOTOR AMBULANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1915, Page 6

WANGANUI'S MOTOR AMBULANCE.

AT WORK JS iFBANCE. , It will be remembered that some little t ."time ago—in February last, to be precise c —the Wanganui Patriotic Societl voted the sum of £3OO for the purchase of a ( •motor ambulance for use in France. The s Tnoney was cabled to Dr. Edward Bur- J •net, a brother of Mr. J. H. Burnetj of j Wanganui, and that gentleman has just c 'received a letter of acknowledgment, j "Immediately on receipt of,a communi- A cation from the bank," writes Dr. Burnet, "that your committee had cabled c £3OO for the ambulance, I put it in hand. The chassis is of lft2o-h.p. En- ( field, British made throughout. The body j was made by the best coach builders in ( .London—Windovers, Ltd. It is provided , with four stretchers for lying-down j cases, uut when these are out it will ao- t commodate ten sitting-up cases and two i •lying down. Another sitting-up case can < :be accommodated with the driver at the ( front. The body is according to army j pattern and is made of the best material , possible. The car is fully equipped with , all nncessary spares, lamps, tools, speedo- ( jneter, gxhaust whistle, etc., and looks j Well, and is quite worthy to represent j the patriotic citiens of Wanganui. The ( total cost came to a little over £325, ] but the extra over the amount sent will , represent our contribution towaffts the

gift. I travelled with the ambulance from London to Folkestone by road, crossed with it to Boulogne, and went straight up to the camp—two and a-half miles out of the city. The moment we arrived we found 340 odd patients awaiting removal to the hospitai ships, for trans- ( port to England, and we simply Jpaded ( up at once with eleven of them and exer ( cuted the first journey, so you see it • arriyed in the nick of time and had not ] many minutes to wait. Before proving its , utility.?* A i »«, ' Dr. Burnet goes on to speak of the ( hospital camp to whUh he is attached , "Our camp," he says, ,f is going strong. , It has 1500 beds and the average sfa,y pi j the patients is not more than three or j four days each. Now that the fighting has j become so grim, this has practically be- , come an acute or clearing hospital, in- j stead of being a convalescent. I dare not say much in a letter, but it would ; do Borne of our growser3 good to come , over with us to France and mix with . our men. We give to our boys about £l2 worth of Glaxo per week. The Glaxo, by the way, comes from Nejp Zealand, and we really could not do without it. If any of your friends would like to share the pleasure and privilege of affording the best of comfort for our wounded heroes, you might remind them that my big family of 1500 can toast their health is hot Glaxo for a whole week for the sum of £B2. "Now, as regards the ambulan/sa. If you do happen to have any funds tfl 'spare for the purpose, we would to thankful for anything towards its main- ; tenance. Ag you can imagine, every--1 thing in France is practically at famine ' prices. Every Saturday I take stores • over-JGlaxo, fruit, material for cool [ drinks, all kinds of underwear for the I men, and indeed anything we can get hold of. It has been a very heavy j strain—the upkeep of this work—but it • is our share towards the wa*. When our I family was comparatively small, two or b three hundred men only, we had no an* ' iety, but now that we have so many to cater for it is very different. As far as we know we are the only ones In ■• France who give our men all we have. • "There are other excellent organisations, such as. the Y.M.C.A., Dut theyj make a charge for what they have. I . started the work fully convinced that the ■ man who offered his all for his country's needs had already paid for anything we - could do for him, and I intend to continue on those lines as long as I have two farthings to rub together. I will write you more fully later, but m the ' meantime will you convey to your comI mittee our heartfelt thanks for their '< »enerous gift, and our assurance that the l money could not have been better | spent?" .-