DOCTOR’S OPERATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1928, Page 3

DOCTOR’S OPERATION

CALLED TO MAORI VILLAGE. An operation under difficulties, without full equipment or lighting, was recently carried out in the far north by an Auckland doctor gn a yachting cruise. The vessel was lying at anchor in a little bay when news was brought that a Maori of the village was suffering severely ■ with a bloodpoisoned arm. The doctor collected an impressive array of implements, and performed the operation after , the evening meal in the village. Starting off without anaesthetic, th.e doctor made a cut in the swollen arm. The patient gasped at the pain, and- showed signs of fainting. The assistant, who was holding an electric torch, grabbed the Ma’ori by the hair and held him while lint was applied. Tablets were administered, and by next morning the sufferer had almost forgotten his trial. . f The native settlement was deeply impressed by the-operation, and all the injured ones turned up to consult the holiday-making doctor. One man had a nasty axe wound to be treated, and minor injuries were to be seen in profusion. Thus it was proved that one never knows what is going to happen around the next corner in this life. Certainly the doctor had no expectation of being called upon to fill the role of miracle-man to a settlement of Maoris in a desolate part of' the far northern coast.