OUR HOSPITALS—A SUGGESTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4298, 6 March 1901, Page 3

OUR HOSPITALS—A SUGGESTION.

Mr William F. Slack writes as fol- • [ beg of vyu space nr the. columns of vour widely read paper, in which to make a. suggestion to the people of Wellington, which will gi-caviy assist our hospitals and at the same tifflf as a fitting memorial to our late Oueeii —-a woman of high ideals, good, true and noble in every sense of the word, and one who, during her life, specially identified herself with hospitals. What I would suggest and strongly urge upon, nav, appeal to the citizens of this c.ty to do, is to make a special otteriiiv on a special Saturday—be tho offering large or small, so long as ail contribute —and continue this offering year after year on one special day. Inis method of subscribing to hospitals has operated for somo years in Austi.uia with the greatest success, and the day on which the collection Is made is now popularly termed ‘‘Hospital Saturday. Take Sydney, for instance; the codection is made there on the first Saturday in April. Some hundreds of willing ladies commence their labour _of love at eight o’clock in the morning and collect till eleven o clock at night. Everyone is levied upon. No one escapes. The poorest wive their mite with pleasure. Thousands and thousands of coins, from a. ball-penny to a sovereign, notes, cheques postage stamps, tickets—all find their way tc the boxes and stand.-;. details ol organisation cannot of necessity be given in this limited sipacc—suffice it fo say that so enthusiastically do the public enter into the spirit of the movement that the collection in 1900 totalled some £6500, which, with the Government igrant of “pound for pound,” gives a grant total of £13,000. . Think what it means to suffering humanity, and then remember that this result was attained through the agency of small subscriptions—amounts perhaps insignificant in themselves, but united, the result above. Now, if such a movement can be made a success elsewhere, why not in Wellington? . Our hospital. l require more money, and here is just tho opportunity for the citizens to help those institutions, and, at the same time, memorialise, in a worthy manner, the life of one of tho highest-minded women of the ago. May “The Victoria Memorial Hospital Collection” soon be an accKimplishcd fact. If eveiryouc vvorlls with earnest enthusiasm, there can be no failure.