THE LEPER STATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19143, 8 October 1925, Page 9

THE LEPER STATION.

Sir, I note a letter in Wednesday's Herald ovsr the signature of Father Gondringer, in which he refers tc the splendid work of the nuns and of the medical officer at Makogai, to which he alleges that no reference was made by me at the time of mv return from that island on the 21st of last month. May I be permitted to direct Father Gondringer's attention to my reference as reported in the Herald at that time, to the effect that " Dr. Neff, a Canadian, as administrator and chief medical officer, is doing a great and wonderful work. Dr. Neff and the nursing sisters were devoted to their won;, and their one interest in life was the care and welfare of the patients.". I wish to emphatically state that at the time of the interview I referred at length to the work of the sisters (nuns), and stated they were the finest women one could ever meet, and that 1 had the greatest admiration for their devotion to the patients. Since ray return I have been interesting myself on behalf of the patients, knowing that anything that can be done to make the life of the patients brighter would be greatly appreciated, not only by the patients, but alco bv the sisters. As an example of the unselfishness of the latter I might mention that one sister showed me, with great pleasure, a cinematograph machine which she works by hand, thus passing the film through the machine and at the same time driving a dynamo for generating the electric current required for lighting the lamp, etc. This requires considerable effort, especially when using the machine for any length of time. I inquired how loig she would turn the machine, and whether it was not very tiring, to which the sister replied. " I get a little tired after abont two hours, but as the patients obtain so much pleasure, I often continue for another half hour or so. This is only a small example of the spirit pervading the whole staff and much more could be stated concerning their absolute devotion to tho care of the patients from a nursing point of view. At the present moment the one great want in the island is cinematograph films for the above cinematograph machine, and unfortunately I find the special size is not obtainable in New Zealand, but an endeavour is being made to obtain some films in England, Farther, several generous offers have been made since, my return in connection witth a proposal to obtain an up-to-date machine (including dynamo and engine} which will take the size of film now generally in use, and another generous offer of" a supply of films for the above machine to be presented to the island. As tho cost of the machine nevertheless will be considerable I will be pleased to receive any financial support in connection with the above object, as I am sure that such a gift would be most welcome at the island at the present time, I might add that the New Zealand patients were supplied with a powerful wireless received soma time ago, which is now installed at Makogai, anc, that I am arranging -tor a wireless transmitting plant to be forwarded this week so that- the patients may not feel altogether isolated frtfai the rest of the world. T. J. Hughes, Medical Officer of Health, Anzac Avenue.