THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, June 21, 1937. SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23222, 21 June 1937, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, June 21, 1937. SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

The ceremony on Saturday of the laying of the foundation stone of the building which is to be the headquarters of the Otago Centre of the St. John Ambulance Association signified a progressive step in the cause of humanity. It is well to have this practical reminder that always, in an age which seems ever in a hurry and in search of distraction, persistent and efficient forces are quietly asserting themselves in a perpetuation of the example of the Good Samaritan. The St. John Ambulance Association bears a name that is held in respect throughout the Empire, and maintains traditions which, it is good to think, will never languish among peoples of British stock. If there is a finer order of chivalry than that which pledges itself to the assistance of those in need of succour—the sick, the distressed, the injured —it has yet to be identified. The service which an organisation such as the St. John Ambulance Association renders to the community is of an admirably practical character and it is indispensable. In the light of the fact that it is rendered in a very large degree through voluntary effort the merit of it is only the more accentuated. While it is in the more distressful background which is partially obscured by the bustle of everyday life that the association functions, those who are acquainted with its work are able to provide perhaps surprising information regarding the extent and the ramifications of its labours. The details furnished by the president of the Otago Centre at Saturday's ceremony emphasised most impressively what the association's work signifies, either in a day or in the course of a year. The ambulance transport alone represents an activity and form of assistance which reaches practically every part of the provincial district, and it is a free service to those in indigent .circumstances. What this must mean to hundreds of sufferers may well be imagined. First aid to the injured is another Conn of usefulness which bespeaks, in the many who become proficient in it under the association's auspices, an attitude towards their fellows that calls for admiration. • The man or the woman who, when occasion calls, is able to step forward and give the practical help that is so valuable because of its promptitude as well as because of its skill was surely never more in demand than in these days when unfortunately accidents are so common. The training which the Ambulance Association provides in this direction is given for the benefit of the community. Another important branch of the centre's

activities is represented in the ministrations of the association's district nurses among the sick- poor, these entailing exacting and arduous duties, as is indicated in the thousands of visitations entailed in the course of a year. The St. John Ambulance Association thus deserves so well of the public, yet asks so little in return, that it is the more gratifying to find a citizen coming forward, as Mr Samuel Saltzman has done, with the generous recognition of the value of its work, coupled with a decision to further it, that is involved in the gift by him which has enabled the centre to commence the erection of a building that will provide it with all the accommodation that it requires. In this and in other benefactions which he has made in the interests of the needy, Mr Saltzman has set an example of citizenship that is as worthy of admiration as it is of emulation. Thanks to him the St. John Ambulance Association will be greatly assisted in the performance of its work. Its new headquarters will be an outward symbol of the valuable organised service which is at the disposal of the public.