EPIDEMIC FIGHTERS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 137, 6 December 1918, Page 4

EPIDEMIC FIGHTERS

WELLINGTON CENTRAL DISBANDS. _ Prior to discontinuing active operaUiyis, tho Wellington Central Area com mitfcoo met yesterday, Mr. P. Fraser, M.T?., presiding. The chairman express od his heartfelt appreciation of the work of all with whom he had been happily associated. Having dealt with what he termed the dreadful things which had occurred in Auckland, Mr. Fraser re ferred to the early organisation in Wei lington, and said that he was sure it would be one of the most cherished moments of their lives when they could look back and say they had been privileged to be of some assistance during one of the darkest periods in the history of the country. The chairman went on to eulogise the wholehearted services of the doctors, the outside workers, hospital workers, the ordnance branch of the De fence Department,.. the quartermastel" and the medical orderlies Out of prac tically nothing a great organisation had sprung, and on the /cry day it was decided to use St. John's schoolroom as a, hospital patients were admitted at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Special thanks were returned to Sister Karkness and Sister Quinn, who had been in charge of the hospital, and reference was made to the arduous work, unde very difficult conditions, of the nurses at the Alexandra Hall.' Gratitude wa also oxtended to the Rev. Dr. Gibb and the people of St. John's Church for tho übo of the schoolroom and other church buildings, and for actual work in con nection with the hospital and commissariat department. To the valuable help given by the Boy Scouts, reference wa made-; also to those who had loaned their motor cars. The bill for taxi hire was going to be very high—there was no doubt of that—but if car hire ran : into thousands of pounds, the expendi ture would be justified. The chairman, in conclusion, paid a tribute to the work of the office staff and the special sam tary inspectors appointed. He expressed the wish that, although the committee was disbanding they as individual would go on and erfdeavour to see that the workers of the city were not con demned to live in such conditions as at present. It was a bijj problem, it was a question of the- weighing of the life and health of the community againofc the wealth of the community, and as he had said they must think in millions on the subject. Cheers were given for Mr Fraser, for the nurses, and the hospital orderlies. In tie Wellington Central Area 1800 esses were handled during the epidemic and a number outside the district. The services rendered to these people may be eet down at a low average of 10 each during the past three weeks, making'at least 18,000 individual services per formed by the outside workers of the central group.