THE HOSPITAL.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7268, 26 March 1889, Page 3

THE HOSPITAL.

TO THB EDITOR OF THB PRESS. Sir—l was astonished to see in a letter signed Arthur C. de Renzi, &<_, io your issue of March 23rd, the folldwing words, purporting to contain the opinion of the chaplain of the Hospital—" There should be no question as to who is the better judge of the state of the wards. Canon Stanford or the Chaplain of the Institution who to-day expressed himself as being surprised at Canon Stanford's gross misrepresentation of facts in connection therewith ; the wards, from his point of view, being far from in a * scandalous state. He could, however, only attribute it to Canon Stanford having been entirely misinformed on the whole subject." Sir, I feel assured such remarks could not have fallen from the lips of the Rev. J. Holland, and that Mr de Renzl must have unintentionally misconstrued the conversation he held, as the same as quoted Is at entire variance with the words tbe Chaplain used at the Social Purity meeting the night before. He there said that the " scandalous case" was an undoubted case of the disease mentioned, and gave the Hon. Secretary and myself a detailed account of how the poor girl and her baby contracted it. "But," he went on to say, " that it would be a difficult case to prove as it might be mistaken for a case of ophthalmia. The resolution referred to by Dr. De Renzi has been on the statutes of the Hospital for some years, yet to my certain knowledge cases of the disease in question have, and do find their way into the Hospital under whatever secondary diseases they may be In fact, in common humanity I cannot see how many such cases can be refused. It does not say much for the public of Christchurch when they allow such an inhuman resolution to disgrace tbe statutes of the Hospital, whether or not in special or unavoidable cases that resolution be driven through. What the Hospital Board should do, and what the public should agitate for, till they see that they have done it, is to furnish a separate ward for such cases, instead of turning the poor creatures, most of them young girls in their teens, away to die. The Hospital has an empty ward, it only wants furnishing and, I presume, an additional nurse, so that all this barbaric brutality could be prevented at a com* paratively small cost.—Yours, Sec, W. E. Barker. .