Home for Incurables, Wellington

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 34, 20 August 1903, Page 15

Home for Incurables, Wellington

Writing with reference to the good work being done by the Sisters of Our Lady of Compassion in Wellington the l N.Z. Times ' says -—The leading spirit in this laudable intent is the Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aubert —whose name i.s a .synonym for charity from one end of New Zealand to the other. After establishing her orphanage at Jerusalem, on the Wanganui River, the Rev. Mother— in all her absorbing love for suffering, helpless humanity— opened the institution now known as St. Joseph's Home for Incurables. Originally a small cottage, the Home is now a building of considerable pre>tension, the front part of the old cottage having been added to some three years ago, thus providing four extra wards with their accompanying bathrooms and lavatories. The energy of the Sisterhood did not stop here, for the two houses adioimng were purchased and are now fitted for the comfortable accommodation of those unfortunates who never know a day to pass without pain, with nothing to anticipate in this world but a lingering interlude of suffering made endurable by the kindness and forethought of the good Sisters. Two more cottages adioimng the first two have now been secured These are to be comerted into a home for the maintenance of babies and the younger children of poor women whose mothers are forced by circumstances to work during the day. Here the little ones will be left in the morning and attended to throughout the day by the Sisters, and handed back to the mothers, who will call for them after the day's work. This form of charity is a new one in Wellington, but surely one that will appeal to the hearts of the people, and for her decision in instituting such a help to poor mothers the Rev. Mother and her assistants are entitled to the thanks of every citizen. Referring again to St. Joseph's, a representative of this paper paid a visit to the Home and found the patients— mostly old men and women— quite happy and cheerful, either sitting about their spotlessly clean wards or sunning themselves on the balconies. The furnishings are of the plainest throughout, but everything necessary to bodily comfort is handy, and the ever-busy Sisters have always time to assist" the sufferers in any way conducive to their well-being. One room visited was lined from floor to ceiling with tiers of large shelves packed with every description of clothing for the poor of the city— old clothes that had been collected by the Sisters and brought to the Home to be cleaned and mended, patched and altered by their clever fingers, and are now ready for distribution. With the assurance that this stock would only last a few days, an adjournment was made to another room, where are fitted lockers for each of the indoor patients' clothes, so neatly packed that the desired article can be procured without any undue fossicking. The building is lighted throughout with electricity, and each room has been made bright and airy, fresh air being a feature in the attributes of the

institution, which is open to all, irrespective of creed or nationality— a wide-viewed, all-embracing charity that should appeal to all who may read these remarks.