WESTERN AREA HOSPITAL FUND

Northland Age, Volume 23, Issue 32, 26 November 1923, Page 5

WESTERN AREA HOSPITAL FUND

AN APPEAL. (Old Timer) The money is not coming in as plentifully as the promoters of the Western Area Hospital Fund expected; it is coming in shillings where they looked for pounds. I believe that this is so| because the men and women of the district have not given this subject their serious attention. lam a believer, and a firm believer, in the innate humanity of the average human being the wide world over. And when I ask anyone for a contribution, an.l am told that the person asked is hard up, that the expense of a second Hospital in the County would be too great, or that an ambulance would be quite sufficient, I at once arrive at the conclusion that the dire necessity for the Hospital to be in the centre of the population, has not come home to them. Perhaps none of their near and dear ones has been directly affected; but if there is one able-bodied man or woman iu the North who would not pay, aye, to the uttermost of their resources to save their nearest and dearest from needless pain and possibly death, then my faith in human nature is shattered for ever, and this world is not worth living in.

A life a year saved! probably more; think of it, my friends ; somebody’s loved one which a few paltry shillings from you might have saved. We know that times are hard and that everybody is feeling the pinch, btit f ask how many of the pleasures of li 1 e are we denying ourselves, how many times have we stayed away from the pictures, how many new dresses or new suits have we done without to further the great cause of humanity. The expense of supporting a second institution, oi course, would be grialci, .win. denies it?), but I believe that everyone would pay the amount cheerfully, if one precious life was saw i thereby. Plonk the agony endured hy the scalded baby, and the thoughts of the mother as they were being jolted over >iie weary way to Mangonui in the darkness; think of the Maori boy, injured to death, on that same journey ; these things have happened within the last year. We are told what an ideal situation and what a beautiful view there is at the Mangonui Hospital, and I ask what the suffering ones think of the view, when they are holding out their wasted hands for the love and companionship of their own folk. People cannot afford many trips to Mangonui, but if the Hospital were in Kaitaia the residents of a large area could visit their friends everyday. 1 write feelingly on this phase of the question, and I will give my own personal experience of the sort of thing that happens. Some years ago one of my boys fell off a cart and the wheel went over his head; he was ordered to the Hospital, a good many miles away ; the reports, by telephone, were that he was doing, as well as could be expected. In about ten days time I went to see him expecting to find him nearly well. When I got near the door I heard a terrible wailing erv, “I want my Daddy.” My friends, this is not theatrical ; that cry will ring through my brain while memory lasts. I took him home that night, absolutely against the doctor’s orders, and he slept peacefully in my arms for the first time a her 1 ..e accident. Our laddie is

here with -is alive and sane, but as sure as God is in Heaven, if that boy had been kep t from Ins own people he would have been a hopeless lunatic to-day, and the surroundings of that Hospital were beautiful. It might have been your boy, it may be, any day. Would you give your last shilling to save his life or his reason ? I would, so would you. My friends, I make this appeal, and make it confidently, asking you to subscribe more liberally, and thus assist to alleviate the sufferings of stricken humanity.