INVALIDED SOLDIERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 13, 16 January 1941, Page 6

INVALIDED SOLDIERS.

I The war is in its seventeenth month, and more than a year has passed since the First Echelon sailed away. Presumably it was foreseen then that some day soldiers would be returning to New Zealand sick ;md wounded, but such knowledge apparently did not impel the interested authorities to prompt and energetic action. In Auckland the new military hospital Avas begun only recently, and yesterday, when a call was made on the Public Hospital, at unreasonably short notice, for X-ray service for a small body of invalided soldiers, the chairman oC the Hospital Hoard pointed out that a new X-ray plant, although in Auckland, has no) been installed. The reason, Mr. Moody explained, is that the board is still wailing for the Health Department to "approve the plans." To (he pnblie. it will seem (hat the [ilnns should have been approved before the plant arrived. Yesterday, because the board's organisation rose to the occasion, (he services required were made available, immediately; but the time may come when the organisation will not be able to cope so swiftly with a "rush," and the Health authorities, insofar as they are responsible, are likely then to learn that the public will not tolerate the imposition of hardship or inconvenience upon soldiers, especially if it should be attributable to the leisurely, peace-time procedure of Departments.