DR. BROWN'S DEPARTURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12799, 21 October 1903, Page 4

DR. BROWN'S DEPARTURE.

Tiikhe is, it is quite safe to say, a very general feeling of regret in the community that Dr Brown litis found it necessary to make arrangements for his early departure from Dunedin for a less rigorous climate; ami that- feeling will be intensified by a knowledge of the circumstances that have forced this decision upon him. Mr Kempthorne, in a single sentence, crystallised the sentiment of the citizens regarding Dr Brown when he said oil Monday afternoon at the meeting, presided over by the Mayor, that in a residence in Dunedin of '10 years' duration lie had known no man who was more deserving of public recognition. Dr Brown has established himself firmly and deeply in tho good opinion of the community. As a skilful, painstaking, and sympathetic practitioner he has gained the confidence and affection of a large number of families, who have had excellent reason to appreciate his unselfishness, kindliness of disposition, and. cheerfulness of manner. Among the lofty traditions of the Jioble profession to which he belongs' there is none violated less frequently than that imposing an obligation on medical practitioners to afford tho

'benefit- of their services ungrudgingly to even the poorest, and by none of his professional brethren in this city has this obligation been observed in a more liberal spirit than it has been by Dr Brown. His advice has been freely, liberally given whenever it has been sought bv persons in the humblest circumstances, and his purse has been open to the calls of charity as generously as his professional skill has been placed at the disposal of the indigent. All sections of the people, indeed, who have known in him a practitioner of great ability and mature experience, will feel, when he has departed from Duncdin, that tliey have taken their leave of a friend as well as of a- trusted medical adviser. But despite the demands on his attention of a busy practice, tho claims of which would bo regarded by most men as sufficiently trying, Dr Brown has found time to take an active interest in the. public life of the district. The cause of education has had in him a devoted friend. No one lias done better work as a member of the Otago Education Board or, we may add, filled the position of chairman ol that body more efficiently than he has; and ho has taken a leading part in the administration of the affairs of our secondary educational institutions, being at the present time, in fact, chairman cf the Board of Governors of the High Schools. U l tn the University his connection has been more intimate still, for he was for a number of years lecturer on surgery in the Medical School, while the prominent- part he took in organising and conducting the successful movement for the celebration of the late Queen's Jubilee by the erection of the Children's Ward in the.Duncdin Hospital should not in this connection be forgotten. More recently, wnen the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board was constituted, he was prevailed upon to offer himself as a candidate at- the first election of members, was returned at almost tho top of the poll, and was 'elected first, chairman of the Board. In the public-spirited manner in which he has thus placed his talents at. the disposal of the citizens Dr Brown, who has shown an example we could wish some of his fellow practitioners to imitate, has sensibly increased the community's burden of indebtedness to him; and it would, under all the circumstances, argue a deplorable degree of ingratitude were he permitted to leave Dunedin without- bearing with him some tangible token of the residents' warm appreciation of bis sterling merits as a citizen and of the valuable services lie has rendered. With characteristic modesty, Dr Brown has asked that his leavetaking may be made "as quiet as possible," but, while his wishes in tho matter must necessarily be consulted, it will be generally held that there should be some adequate recognition of his countless good qualities.