STATEMENTS DENIED

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 140, 10 December 1918, Page 7

STATEMENTS DENIED

ST. ANNE'S HOSPITAL,

Mr. James Moore, Miasioner, Sailors' Friend Society, writes : "Regarding the references in Parliament to the alleged misconduct at St. Anne's Convalescent Hospital : As I have had, 1 the opportunity daily of observing the c.onduet' of our Sailors during the epidemic period, permit me to say that on the\ Takapuna, in our Institute (now a hospital), and at :St.; Anne's I have found the conduct of -the men most gentlemanly, and all that could be desired. On my last visit to St. Anne's I found the men reading, chatting, smoking, or lplling in the grounds, thankful for so bright a place in which to recuperate after Hearing the gates of death so far from home. Their only desires were for fitness for work, for a 'bit of baccy,' and a few more games. These two latter have been found by friends; the former is given by the wonderful attention of the devoted women and workers in the Sailors' ■Friend Society Hospital andi St. Anne's- ■ Convalescent Hospital. It has been my experience for a long period of years that tho man of the sea, no matter what his grade,. can and' does behave himself with keen propriety, whether I have taken him to Government hospital, to the homes of .the well-to-do in Wellington, to our Institute, or to St. Anne's Convalescent Hospital. I write this in the interests of men whfr are often misunderstood." '

Wo have also received a letter from, a correspondent who signs himself "A Patient at St. Anna's," who enters an emphatic denial to the statements contained in the Hon. G. Jones's question in the Legislative Council regarding St. Anne's Convalescent Home. '"I have no idea," aays our correspondent, "where he has picked up such ideas, but all our opinions are that a man in,'his position has, or should have, something definite before he makes so serious a charge. As a patient who has been in St. Anne's Home for nearly a fortnight, I consider it unjust to cast such a slur on She place. The sisters know, and we know, it was untrue. No one leaves the grounds without a .permit, and none have returned with liquor in them. What we do know is that all have been gentlemanly and courteous in their behaviour, and the Sisters to the Mission to Sea-\ men's Hospital and the sisters and helpers here have said : 'Give us the seamen to attend to; they are gentlemen." What is the reason for so unjust a charge?" 1;" A reply was given by Sir Francis Bell in the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon to the question asked by tjje Hon. George Jones regarding insobriety stated to have occurred amongst the inmates of St. Anne's Convalescent Home. .'Sir Francis Bel^ said.that the medical officer at the hospital reported having seen no evidence of drinldng during his visits, nor had he been interned of any breach of the regulations against drinking or breaki ing the hospital bounds. A deputation - had waited on the Minister of Public Health to state that the administration of the hospital had been ideal, and resenting any suggestion of insobriety on the part of the inmates. It might have been that some men who had been discharged from the hospital had gone back, but on th.it point there was no information.