IN LADYSMITH HOSPITAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8698, 18 December 1899, Page 4

IN LADYSMITH HOSPITAL.

(Sydney Telegraph's War Correspoudant.) Dokban, Nov. 17. Let us take a peep into one of the hospitals — that of Ladysmit.h. Fortunately in one sense, unfortunately in anobher, writes a correspondent, the firßt stage in the treatment of the wounded was at the time of the visit past. The wounded had been brought in and had passed under eyes and in many instances instruments of the doctors aud their staffs. AH operations necessary to save limbs and life had been performed. There was, therefore, nothing painful or gruesome to witness, On the contrary, every ward waa airy, sweet, and peaceful. The patients were resting, apparently contented with quiet surroundings after scenes of Btortn aud strife. Ladysmith Hospital comprises the Town Hall and several of the churches, these buildings having been placed at the disposal of the militury authorities, and there is an additional number of tents in use. The Boer wounded were placed in Dutoh Reformed Churches, and one of their own doctors, Dr Visser, at the time of the visit was in attendance on them. All the patients showed signs of being comfortable. A few were reading, others dozing, and in one ward one of our brave lads was enjoying a smoke. All who were awake were willing to talk, indeed were clearly glad of'tbe opportunity to tell what they saw of the fight, and how they got wounded j but they were to a man still more anxious to know the latest news and what the prospects were of another battle. ANXIOUS FOE ANOTHER SLAP. One young Gordon, with a particularly hright eye aud smiling face, told me how he was wounded by a rifle shot, received in the knee, at the very moment when the Gordons saw that victory waa theirs. He knew, he said, it was difficult to heal, when some of the bones were shattered, as his were, and he was afraid he would be detained some time in the hospital. •' Have you any idea of .bone-healing ?" he asked, "for I don't want to lie here, I want another slap at them. There's to be a big fight some day, and I want to be in it." In the Boer contingent, a fair-haired youth of about 17 or 18 years, satin a chair, his head thickly bandaged. A Boer lying near said, " the youngster " was half German, and from Cape Colony, some place not far from Capetown. The youth had been telling the others that if sent on board a warship in Simon Bay he would be able to see his nome. A tall, spare, grizzled Boer asked if it were true that the Boer prisoners were to be sent on board British warships. He was told they were. " Will they go by sea ?" he anxiously asked. On being told of the distance from' Ladysmith to Simon's Bay he remarked, " Dear me, and on the sea, too." The sea had clearly no charms for this Boer, if he can be described as a Boer, for, as a matter of fact, he came from Johannesburg, where he was well known. SEEING THRODQII A MAN. The Rontgen-rays room is the most ourious and surprising eight to be witnessed within the hospital. This department is un,der the charge of Lieutenant Weld, and the mysterious apparatus are under the care of Sergeant-Major Bruce. Lieutenant Weld, like all the members of the medical staff, shows much zeal and enthusiasm* in his work, and he favored the pressmen with lucid descriptions of the various parts of the machine. Two wounded carbineers were examined by Lieutenant Weld at the time of my visit, and the "special" for the first time in his life was able to accomplish a desire frequently sought, to Bee through a man. With a globe of shimmery green light on one side of a man, and a special apparatus on the other, anyone looking through this special apparatus will experience a queer and uncanny sensation, when he finds that he is looking right through the man in front, that he can count his ribs, and Bee if they are properly formed, and can view the man's heart and observe its rhythmic pulsations. All the patients within Ladysmith Hospital have been well and skilfully treated, and no difference has been made between Boer and Briton. They have had able and skilled doctors to see them through their critical stages, and now they are tended by accomplished and trained lady nurses and by soldiers — and soldiers make good nurses. Several of the wounded Boers expressed their surprise and their gratification with the treatment they have received. " The English have treated us well," said a Boer with conviction, who had been speaking on the Bubject j " they have treated us well."