BACKBLOCKS DOCTOR

Press, Volume C, Issue 29555, 3 July 1961, Page 13

BACKBLOCKS DOCTOR

Memorial To Dr. G. Smith (N.Z Press Association) AUCKLAND. July 2. The president of the British Medical Association (Sir Douglas' Robb), today unveiled a memorial to Dr. George Smith, noted backblocks doctor of the Hokianga county at Rawene. Dr. Smith was above all else “a big man cast in a generous mould who gave himself without stint to the people of his parish.” said Sir Douglas Robb. Dr. Smith who died In 1958 aged 76, anticipated the welfare state in medical and hospital administration by many years, Sir Douglas Robb told a Large gathering of Dr. Smith’s former patients, friends and associatesAn Edinburgh medical student of great promise and later holding a good practice in Scotland. Dr. Smith left to come to Rawene in 1914. he said In spite of the vast problems confronting him he identified himself at once with the needs of the district and undertook remarkable journey by boat and on horseback in the service of his patients. In the social and medical fields. Dr. Smith instigated the development of medical services in the district, trained nursing staff, devised a system of carrying sterilised surgical eouipment and trained his wife to give anaesthetics. Sir Douglas Robb said. Dr. Smith served both Maori and pakeha patients tirelessly. “Who will forget his advice to the patient with a peptic ulcer —“First go to your banker and tell him to go to hell,’ ” said Sir Douglas Robb. The memorial is in the form of a sundial. Dr. Smith’s daughter was among those at the ceremony.