WITH A UNIT IN SERBIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16916, 31 January 1917, Page 8

WITH A UNIT IN SERBIA

NEW ZEALAND LADY DOCTORS. (Fbom Oue Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 5. Dr Agnes BtMinett (Wellington) is in charge of a unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals which is attached to a division of tho Serbian army, and is now quartered at Oestrovo, in olosc proximity to the lake of that name, on the borders of Macedonia some SO miles north-west of Salonika. With her are Dr Jessie Scott (Auckland) and Dr Cooper (Brisbane), and they have afforded invaluable assistance. Since tho erection of this hospital somo three- months a"o when the Crown Prince of Serbia and his brothor, with their staff, honoured it -with their presence at the inaugural ceremony and luncheon, many hundreds of patients have passed _ through its wards, of every 1 rank and nationality, including somo of the enemy; and much praise has been accorded Dr Bennett for her administration \ prominent Serbian General, who has been treated there as a patient, remarked "Tout va, commo uno montre." At times the roar of caunon is audible, and the flash of the guns and &tar shells are visible after dark and during the day tho anti-aircraft guns are frequently busy driving- off enemy aeroplanes. These hitherto have rigorously respected the large red cross on a background of many whfto sheets pegged in tho ground in the middle of tho camp. One of the great difficulties surmounted very pluckily by tho lady drivers of the ambulances and motor lorries is tho transport of the wounded along tho cut-up mountain roads, through deep gorges and over lulls to the casualty clearing station, alon<" which is a never-ending moving lino of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and transport. The lorries and ambulances, owing to these conditions, art? frequently in difficulties, and skid and slip in the snow to an alarming oxtent, but are righted with tho aid of many willing hands. Tho pluck and endurance of tho wounded have been the admiration of the whole personnel, and no caio of cruel treatment of wounded or prisoners has oome under the notice of flic staff On the contrary, many cases of kindness of the Bulgars to the Serbs have been recorded No praise can be high enough for the staff of tho hospital, whoso energy and. efforts for the welfare of tho wounded have'been unceasing and rendered especially heavy at times owing to sudden rushes of work,'and different members of tho unit being temporarily hor* de combat. The iissistam-c and courtesy received from all nationalities by Dr Agnos Bennett's unit of the Scottish Women's Hospital, with the general approval of the good work --accomplished, arugurs well for t-.ho future possibilities of similar undertakings.