RADIUM APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 59, 4 December 1923, Page 3

RADIUM APPEAL

THAT PALMERSTON NORTH FUND A few days ago reference was made to the Palmerston North appeal in 1914 for funds for the purpose of tablishing a radium institute m the North Island, and it was incidentally stated that apparently there was money in the hands of the organisers of that appeal, which might bo made available for the Wellington radium fund now being raised. A member or the committee which made the IJI4 appeal informs us that the money actually paid to the trustees of the then proposed' Radium Institute totalled .£346. though the donations promised 3,crgroo*ate<l somewhere about £oooo or £6000? The late Dr. Martin, whose genius was responsible for the appeal, died in France towards the end. of 1916 as a result of wounds received on the Somme battlefields. But for his untimely death it is a certainty the necessary money would have been raised and an institute have been in operation by this. In consequence of the conditions prevailing as a result of the war and of the death of Dr. Martin, the committee decided it was not advisable to continue file appeal, and it was accordingly abandoned. As it was the intention of the promoters that the proposed institute should be equipped with X-ray appliances, it was considered desirable that the money in hand (£346) should be applied to the less ambitious section of tho_proposals —the establishment of an\X-ray department at the Palmerston Hospital. Public meetings were held in Palmerston North, and after mature consideration it was decided to ask the trustees to make the money held in trust available for an X-rav department, the request beng acceded to on the donors individually signing a transfer of their donations. Consequently there is not any money in the hands of the 1914 Radium Appeal Committee. That appeal was well received by the public, sceveral substantial donations being promised, and there is no doubt but that a sufficient sum would have been raised, for the desired object ..but for the fact that the inspiring genius—Dr. Martin—lost his life whils attending to the wounded on the Somme battlefields.