KING GEORGE HOSPITAL, ROTORUA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17426, 21 September 1918, Page 8

KING GEORGE HOSPITAL, ROTORUA.

x GREAT GOVERNMENT NEGLECT ® ALLEGED. [ c (Fbom Odb Own Ooheesfondent.) i AUCKLAND, September 20. a A scathing denunciation of the existing £ conditions at King George Convalescent a Home for Soldiers at iiotorua, voiced by t Misa Murray, gave rise to discussion at a meeting of tho Joint Committee of the Auck- * land Red Cross Society and Order of St. 1 John to-day. Tile report adopted by the committee stated that £780 was Auckland's c quota towards the erection of a soldiers' J workshop at Rotorua. 'ilio matter was one j of great urgency, and it was hoped that * there would be no delay in completing the c work. s " The whole state of affairs at liotorua ' is simply deplorable," said Miss Murray. 1 " I visited the place recently, and I do not c know how men who liavo been thero for ' several years manage to stand it. There is * nothing for them to do and nowhere for them to go—no recreation nor useful work. * There are about 200 officers and men at 1 King George Hospital and nearly 100 at £ the sanatorium. The Salvation Army and ( the Church of England provide the only ' recreation, and while this is a great boon j these institutions :iro entirely inadequate to 1 meet tho need. At King George Hospital J thero is no properly equipped rest or recrea- ; tion room. There is not even a room where the men can hang up their wet clothes in winter weather; they have to hang them ! along the sides of tho sleeping-room and let 1 the wet garments drip .down on J their beds. They do their own laundering. I saw a one-armed man trying to do his 1 washing the day I was there. The whole 1 state of affairs there was aptly described by one visitor as what one might expect to see in a Maori whare. Such conditions could not possibly exist in any institution whore there was a woman in charge; but from the very start women have had no say in the management of tho home. As representative of the Red Cross body we should rise up and demand that the Government do more for our men or else allow us to take over the management of the place ourselves." Miss Murray further stated that she bad ' been told on good authority that by the end of next year thero would in all probability be 1000 men in Rotorua, as the hospitals in England were being cleared as rapidly as possible. Provision for a larger number of patients should therefore be made without delay. A sub-committee was appointed to confer with tho Annexe Committee and tho Patriotic Association, with a view to arranging a visit to Rotorua for the purpose of making a thorough investigation int the points raised.