PATIENT FLOWN TO AUCKLAND

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25246, 26 July 1947, Page 8

PATIENT FLOWN TO AUCKLAND

AIR TRIP FROM RAROTONGA

COST OF £BOO TO BE MET BY STATE

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 25. Transported by air at a cost of £BOO for admission to the Auckland Hospital, a 50-year-old native storekeeper of Rarotonga, John Taripo, arrived in a Royal New Zealand Air Force Catalina flying-boat at Mechanics Bay this afternoon. The patient, who is suffering from an infection that may entail a delicate brain operation, was removed to hospital in an ambulance which was waiting. Expenses for the flight, which covered 2547 nautical miles and involved the use of two aircraft, will be met by the Island Territories Department. A Hudson aircraft which had been sent from Nausori brought the patient from Rarotonga to Fiji on Thursday. With a crew of six, under Flight Sergeant W. R. Kearns, the Catalina took off from Lauthala Bay at 6.45 a.m. today and reached Mechanics'Bay about 4 p.m. Travelling with the patient was Dr. R. Bradley, of who had been making a survey of child health in Rarotonga, and the patient’s son, Robert Taripo. Dr. Bradley said Taripo’s condition had improved a little during the journey. Because of a leak in the Catalina’s petrol system a hot meal could not be prepared, and those on board had to be content with sandwiches.