VALUABLE WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27040, 26 March 1949, Page 8

VALUABLE WORK

PATIENTS AND PRISONERS’ SOCIETY

INTEREST IN THE AGED “Although all aspects of the work done by the Otago Patients and Prisoners’ Aid Society deserve commendation, I would make special mention of its care for the aged,” said Mr H. W. Bundle, the senior magistrate, in presenting the report to the annual meeting yesterday. “Most distressing cases concerning old people have come before me in court” Mr Bundle said, “ but I know, when committing them to Seacliff, that they will be much better off there than living in homes where they cannot be properly looked after.”

The Mayor, Sir Donald Cameron, seconding the adoption of the report, said that the society was one of the many excellent organisations in the city. “ The general public knows little about the work done,” Sir Donald said, “ but the service of the society nevertheless goes on.” Sir Donald also mentioned the care of the aged and said he believed that interest in this work was growing. The formation of the Old Peoples’ Welfare Council was a “ wonderful thing,” he added. The superintendent of the Seacliff Mental Hospital, Dr Malcolm Brown, thanked the society for its active interest in the welfare of his patients. “In these days of expecting everything from the State it is refreshing to have a body such as this,” he added. Dr James Thomson, superintendent of the Dunedin Public Hospital, said that in his opinion the James Powell Convalescent Home, which was established by the society in 1921, was one of the great assets of the city. The agent, Mr A. Steven, to whose work many complimentary references were made, briefly outlined the history of the society, and the nature of the work it undertook. The election of office-bearers resulted:—President, Sir Robert Kennedy; vice-presidents—Messrs J. R. Bartholomew and W. Downie Stewart; honorary solicitor, Mr W. L. Moore; honorary treasurer, Mr C. J. Wood; auditors, J. S. Mclnnes and Sons; committee —Mesdames J. Dey, D. Tannock, C. O. Mathias and R. C. Rutherford. Miss Downie Stewart and Miss D. Brown, Messrs G. H. Elliffe, Peter Barr, E. North, H. Renfree T. Somerville R. C. Burgess D. Tannock, H. L. Gibson, R. F. Barr and G. A. Russell, and Dr J. Thomson.