WAR MISCELLANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16916, 31 January 1917, Page 10

WAR MISCELLANY

URGENT NEED FOR DOCTORS.

STILL MOKE SCOPE FOR WOMEN.

IFrou Oub Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, December 19. „ f" e lancet makes a Significant statement: It is cloar tliat there must come a day, if the war is indefinitely prolonged, when the necessary economy oi medical m<m can only be attained by the mobilisation of the wnolo ot the available supply." That day, it is urged, is certainly drawing near, bir Donald MacAlister, chairman ot' the General Medical Council, announced a lew days a"o * U H a ,vr>n Ule , War oJlicu wouid S&dly engage fIAAJ doctors to-morrow" n they were available. Yet in some areas there are at the present .time the same number 'ot doctors as there were del ore the war, while in otners the medical element has almost disappeared. Again, the war doctors, who lult cveiytumg to serve their country, have in many lusuiieee lost their practices, and a very bitter feeling hus been engendered m consequence. Bare justice to tno war doctors would bo done were the home doctors called upon to sacrince' themselves in the nations cause. At present unless an older man can be detailed to iiil .the place ot a younger man, the young doctor cannot well be called up for military service. The fact that at present no oider doctor can be moved about at the will of the authorities makes it impossible for them to obtain all the help they want. If the proiess,ou were mobilised and salaries paid to the doctors the. wnolo difficulty wouid disappear at once, to the conuort ot tno piwssion and to the benefit oi the nation. Archbishop Alag.uire was epeaking in Glasgow this week and he reierred to the hard lot of doctors! many of whom were shockingly overworked. He believed that beioro the end ot the war tliere wouid be no private practitioners left, and all patients would have to go to infirmaries to be treated there. inree women doctors liave just joined the medical staff at the London Hospital, and women doctors are being given equally responsible positions in other hospitals and kindied inst.tutions. The calls ot the war have already depleted the staff at the London, and now an intimation uas been conveyed to the authorities that all students, as soon i? . <l uam y> will be dratted into the K.A.iJ.C. There are in London now'five nospaais entirely oiiicured by women, and womi.il are running a military hospital in .linden street for wounded soldiers Obstacles are still put in the way of women wno desire to qualify for the medical profession, 'iney have an excellent trainin" ground at the Royal i'ree Hospital fccnooi ot Medicine ior Women, and there are medical schools open to women attached to several universities in provincial centres. But most of the medical schools attached to tile London hospitals still exclude women. " Captain Mac," otherwise Captain William M Kxnzie, is a Salvation Army chaplain with the Australian Forces. He-served throughout the Gaiiipoh campaign, and earned a reputation among theAnzacs lor his bravery, More than once in the attacks on the Turks he was the first over tho parapet, witn nothing but a trenching tool in hu hand. While conducting a burial service, a Turkish bullet grazed the top of his head and another nipped his right ear. "Captain Mac" was decorated by the King at Buckingham PaJaee a few days ago. ■ The appeal was dismissed. It had been made by Mr H. J. Tennant, M.P., through his bailiff, on behalf ot a single man, aged 32, named Hoidstock, who has been passed for 31 service. He was employed as an engine attendant, as well as being engaged in grinding and preparing food for cattle on the Great Maytham estate- at Rolvenden, Kent. It was stated that unless Holdstock was exempted the advisableness of selling the herd would have to be considered. The estate bailiff mentioned that there were 27 men on the estate, exclusive of eight men in the pleasure The latter eight were capable ot doing farm work. T'nere would be no difficulty in taking one, two, three, or four men from the pltasuro gardens and putting them on farm work, except that the pleasure gardens would not be kept up as they were now. Mr iennant had two chauffeurs, but witness ,did not think either could do Holdstock's work. The tribunal pointed out that the engine was simply one for grinding corn for stock, and that apart- from those in the pleasure gardens tho estate employed eight men under forty and five under titty. " L think I have a right, as a loncj-service man, to protect young soldiers fiom evil influences in the streets of London. All I did was for the benefit of our boys." The man who said this was named Edward Onarles Andrews, and he was talking to the magistrate at Tower Bridge Polico Court, where he found himseit charged with insulting behaviour, also his wife. Andrews gave an interesting account of himself. Hβ was an old soldier, had served in Egypt and m South Africa, and although *60 years of age, he had volunteered for active service when war broke out, and he had been to France three times. Discharged from active service, he took duty at tne Union Jack Club. While at Newington Causeway with his wife a few days ago, Mr Andrews saw a group of Australian soldiers in undesirable company, and he warned them becausa ho thought it his duty to do so as an old soldier. The result was the Police Court, but the charge was dismissed. Lieut. Anton Cmentek, aged 27, and Lieut. Otoo T'helen, aged 24 (German Flying Corps) managed to escape from the detention camp at Holyport, Berks, and at the inouiry. it was stated that the officers hid themselves in a shed in tho grounds in which waste paper was stored. They covered themselves up, and in order to get air, thev used a stick of alderwood from which they had removed the pith. The stick just emerged from the heap of paper. Late in tho day two orderlies with barrows arrived at the shed to take, waste paper away, and with it went the Germans, who were wheeled past the sentries to a place whence they made their escape, i Mr lan Malcoim, M.P., has been making a collection of German war posters or proclamations from the invaded d:stricts of Franco and Belgium, and theso have been cm private view at the House of Commons The posters date from the beginning ot tho war to the spring ot this year. The first is tho famous proclamation by von Emmich to the people of Belgium : 'regretting" that troops must cross the frontier, and ordering them to choose between givnig the Germans free passage or submitting to tho horrors of war; and tho last, dated April, 1916, is the order tor the deportation ot the civil popu'lation of Lille. There is a grim placard announcing the shooting of Cavell. A similar poster, put up at Lille, informs the people that four ot their townsfolk were shot for concealing an English aviator and helping him and French and Belgian soldiers to escape. There are others issued in Paris at tho time of the Germans' march on the capital, including Gallieni's proclamation. _ Most of the German documents will remain for all time as monuments of savagery, such as tho one in which the people of Liego are told that 110 people in Andenne had been shot and the town laid in ashes, and that a similar fato would await them in caso of resistance. Ono of the latest acts of Lord Roberts was to make a world-wide appeal for field glasses, for tho use of troops at tho front. In two years over 26,000 of these have been received, without reckoning those which were .collected in Australia, in the Malay States, and other distant countries, and all were issued in due course to local forces on the different fronts. Tho instruments received have comprised every type, and have been classified and issued according to the needs of different units, and Lady Roberts, daughter of the late Field-marshal, writes: "Particularly useful have been the fine prismatic glasses sent, which have been allocated to artillery and machine gun units, according to their power; large mounted telescopes for batteries, deer-stalking telescopes for gunners and snipers, and good old-fashioned non-prismatic racing glasses for detection of the nationality of aircraft, locating snipers, signalling by disc, collecting wounded, and musketry instruction. T am indeed grateful for tho way in which mv father's appeal has been m-st. British people all over the world have given their best, •recognising that, in spite of the fact that their glasses are on loan, and that the organisation for their return has been arranged, the chances of loss are many, and that they may never get their glasses back. When I think of tho enormous numbers of good glasses sent it may seem ungracious to aslc for more, but the demand is still grnat. Every good glass (exceot opera glasses) and every tetescopo (except toy?) is wanted for tho service of tho country ,; The address to which glasses should "be sent is: Lady Roberto's Field Glass Fund National Service League, 72 Victoria street'