£l00 GIFT PASSED ON

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30901, 6 November 1965, Page 1

£l00 GIFT PASSED ON

The Canterbury Medical Research Foundation has benefited by £lOO because Christchurch firemen saved a man aged 91, and his sister, aged 87, from their blazing home in Deans avenue on August 20’. Mr R. E. James and Miss F. L. James were rescued from their home at 159 Deans avenue early in the morning. Mr James was carried down an extension ladder from a bedroom window. Miss James was found unconscious on the floor of her bedroom by firemen wearing breathing apparatus. They carried her down the stairs, applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and had partially revived her when an ambulance arrived.

Some weeks later, when his sister and he had recovered, Mr James sent the Christchurch Fire Brigade a letter, with a cheque for £lOO, “from my sister and myself as a small token of our gratitude in the saving of both our lives and our property on the morning of August 20.” At the half-yearly meeting of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board Social Club last month, members decided that they could not accept the cheque. The club wrote to Mr James: —“We have received your valued letter with cheque enclosed and wish to place on record our sincere thanks to your sister and yourself for this most generous act. However, we as a service feel that it is our duty and also, more satisfyingly our privilege to carry out rescues when required and possible.”

The members of the club suggested to Mr James that if it was still in his mind to show his appreciation in the same manner, the cheque could be given to a welldeserving cause. The letter said that the mony could perhaps be devoted to assisting work against diseases and that a contribution to the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation would assist every section of the community. In a letter to the director of the medical unit at the Princess Margaret Hospital (Dr. D. W. Beaven), Mr James said he was most willing to accept the most generous suggestion of the firemen that he give the money to the Medical Research Foundation. He said he also wished to thank the staff at the Princess Margaret Hospital for the most kind service rendered to his sister and himself.