HOSPITAL RADIO FUND.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 20 September 1927, Page 4

HOSPITAL RADIO FUND.

Tho proposal to raise sufficient funds by voluntary effort to purchase and install a wireless receiving set at the Hawera Public Hospital for tho entertainment of the patients, appeals to the lay mind, as being a, very ihappy one in every respect., and when it is found that the scheme is not only endorsed by the medical profession, but originated with one of its members, any doubt which may arise as to tho practicability of the scheme is at once sot at rest. It is not surprising that the members of the Hospital Board gave such unqualified approval to tlio scheme when their sanction to it was sought yesterday by Dr McGhie, on behalf of

the Amateur Operatic Society. The scheme had everything to recommend it to the board, as the members of that body were- not slow to realise, but it is very gratifying that a proposal which has been launched as a real community service should start with something more than mere formal approval. The members of the board showed by the manner in which they received it that they are willing to throw personal enthusiasm into the effort, and in all such community affairs it is personal enthusiasm which counts. The Hawera Amateur Operatic Society has given a fine lead to the public in this matter. The members have just concluded a highly successful season and it would not have been strange had they shown reluctance to throw themselves into the arduous 1 work of producing “The Arcadians” twice next week. That they have done so speaks volumes for the cause and for their own public spirit. All concerned with the production of the comic opera are giving their services entirely free of charge, the society not even stipulating that it should be allowed to make good the small deficit it showed on its recent five-nights season. That deficit will be met out of the Society’s reserve; the whole of the money raised as a result of the two extra nights to bo played next Monday and Tuesday will bo devoted to the cause which the president and the members have so much at heart. It now only remains for other musical and social organisations, and the public generally, to back up these efforts to see established the nucleus of the fund necessary to bring the happenings of the outsid'e world to the bedsides of the patients at the hospital. There should not. be the slightest doubt about the ultimate success of the appeal. A request for assistance in bringing sunshine and health back into the lives of the sick never fails to strike a responsive chord in the heart of the average individual, but the scheme just launched by the Amateur Operatic Society commands our admiration and sympathy because it seeks to do this for all the patients in the institution all the year round—a form of service finer even than that performed at the season of good cheer.