LEPER APPEAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 243, 14 October 1935, Page 10

LEPER APPEAL.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS. MAKOGAI ISLAND STATION. DOMINION-WIDE SUPPORT. For eleven years Mr. D. L. Thomas, of 14, Dominion Road, Mount Albert, has been organising, in an honorary capacity, the annual appeal for Christ,nias gifts for the lepers on Makogai Island. Last year Mr. Thomas sent HO cases of gifts to the island. He is again making an appeal for gifts this year and already has 12 cases, of goods packed and ready for shipment. The whole consignment from Auckland is carried to the island and delivered there free of charge by the Union Steam Ship Company, which has given this generous service free for 11 years. Donors and contributors to tlic appeal are found in all sections of society, from the relief worker, who sends (Id in stamps, to a wealthy friend of the lepers who sends Mr. Thomas scwt of sweets every year, specially packed for the occasion. Mr. Thomas will be grateful for gifts of any description, but there is a particular demand for lightweight materials for making clothing for men, women and childien, for toys,, and f< r cricket and tennis gear of any kind. There arc three cricket teams among the lepers on the island, so cricket gear is naturally much in demand. The lepers are also very happy to receive pipes, cigarettes and tobacco. Mr. Thomas hopes to send at least CO cases of gifts this year. The steamer which will carry them from Auckland to the island leaves in the last week in November, but as a good deal of special packing is required, the earlier donations are made the more acceptable they will be. With contributions in money Mr. Thomas purchases goods at wholesale prices, several generously disposed firms having been in the habit of making heavy discounts. Mr. F. J. Toomey, of the Christchurcli Gas Co.'s etaff, organises the appeal in the South Island, but Auckland sympathisers make their gift 3 or contributions to Mr. Thomas. Friends Among All Faiths. The leper station is conducted by the devoted missionary sisters of the Society of Mary, but it is non-sectarian in character, and members of all faiths are readily admitted. Regular donors and contributors to the annual appeal are found among members of all denominations, and also among friends who do not belong to any particular.faitli. The station was , established by the Fiji Government in 1910. Mokogai Island was chosen as being a suitable size and handy to the port of Levuka. The staff, which works 'under the direction of the Fiji Government find medical superintendent, was arranged as the result of negotiations which the Fiji Government conducted in 1910. with Bishop Vidal, S.M. It consists of thirteen .missionary sisters of the Society of Mary, who arc assisted by ten native helpers. Lepers of various nationalities who are not hospital cases have their own settlements, and the work of the sisters includes the regular visiting and treating of these, and ordinary nursing and teaching duties, as well as the care of the leper patients. There are two schools.

About 100 out of the 500 patients are from New Zealand, or from New Zealand mandated territory. There are Europeans, Chinese, Indians and Maoris, as well as various Island natives, among "the patients. The Indians are the largest numerically. There are 200 of them, of whom 40 are women. Chaplain's Sacrifice. More than a thousand patients have passed through Makogai Island, where modern equipment and administration have reduced the death rate to 5 per cent. Until modern methods of treatment were introduced the danger of infection was very real. Two native sisters had to becomo patients, and in 1928 the chaplain, Father Nicoulcau, S.M., died a victim to the disease. The sisters now Have a Tiouse at Wellington where New Zealand girls are prepared for work on Makogai and other Pacific islands. • In a letter to Mr. Thomas the medical superintendent, Dr. C. J. Anstin, writes: "I am afraid you must find it very difficult to visualise conditions at . Makogai, but if you were liere you would need no assistance from the imagination to realise .the happiness brought to our unfortunate charges by these gifts. The people of New Zealand have been so generous for years that the' patients have come to look forward to their gifts for weeks beforehand, and .even in these days of depression New Zealand lias not let them down."