The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, 26th AUGUST, 1885.

Southland Times, Issue 8096, 26 August 1885, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, 26th AUGUST, 1885.

There iB a fine row on just now up in ZZJZy »T« _*-•*■ uvtif lilt* »y *y rather mismanagement, of the xxuq],ii U ,, The Government for some reason or otber — a very insufficient one we fear — dis* missed Dr Chilton, the resident physician, From what we can gather it seems that the matron bad something to do with the dismissal ; but as the matter is still, as far as the publio are concerned, in wbat we may call the rumour stage, we will not venture to Bay who is or is not to blame. The dismissal of Dr Ohilton may have been perfectly justifiable, for aught we know, or it may have been an act of petty and malicious tyranny. We leave the deciding of that point, in the meantime at least, to the Commission appointed by the Government to investigate the case. We say in the meantime, for it is very much to be feared that the decision of the Commission will have to be revised, and possibly reversed. As the Government are deeply implicated in the matter it was a clear dereliction of duty on the part of the House to allow Mr Samuel's proposal to appoint a Select Committee to lapse. The Government are thus practically judges expected to judge righteous judgment, j But there is one particular which may be I decided right off, and without the aid of the j Commission. The dismissal of the physician, it would seem, had displeased the nurses, and they were bold enough to say ao to the Hospital Committee. To that body they addressed tho following letter:—" We, the undersigned nurses of the Hospitalj res^ctfully request that you will institute an inquiry as to the dismissal of Dr Ohilton, as we, from long experience, can see no reason for his dismissal, and con* sequently think he bss bsen unjustly dealt with." For this action they were at once accused of insuboidination, The idea that a number of .young women working for wage? should presume to make a BUgges* tion or a request to such an august body appears to have been regarded as wofae than high treason-^as a monstrous and Un« pardonable crime. The nurses were accordingly then and there dismissed— were one and ali ordel'ed to psick at a moment's notice. This Was lo Wards night too. Just imagine ten young women being turned out into the street in such a manner ! One of them was ill in bed and refused to go, another refused to leave her ward as ahe had two men in a dying state under her care and no one to ieave in charge. But mark the chivalry of a Wellington Hospital Committee backed up by a New Zealand Ministry, The police were actually sent for to compel these two women te leave the hospital— to turn one of them out of a sick bed, and drive the other away from tending her dying patients, and this in the deadjof night I The latter, however, bravely stuck to her post, and ultimately they were both allowed to remaiD, per favour of the Minister of Public Works, who was the only " supreme authority " whom the steward, rushing about in despair, could manage to hunt up. The whole thing is exceedingly disgraceful. When the circumstances were detailed, very imperfectly indeed, to the House by the Premier, in reply to a question put by one of our Southland members, Mr G. F. Richardson, honourable members were wildly indignant. Mr Samuel immediately moved the adjournment of the House to consider the question, upon which a desultory discussion ensued. Major Atkinson, who spoke with much good sense and with the feeling of a gentleman, blamed the Government, and said that the nurses had committed no breach of discipline. Sir Julius Yogel was all for petty tyranny and the repression of insubordinate females. No other course, ho said, could bave been adopted ; bnt he was evidently galled that the matter should have been brought before the House (had not his Ministry been worried anddisgf aced enough already ?), for the Colonial Treasurer is really not the kind of man to treat poor women with harshness or injustice. He is naturally a kind, good-hearted gentlemau. Still, what can a poor Minister do, when every day and all day lopg his Government is subjected to scorn, indignity, and humiliation t He might resign, says the reader. True, but Ministers, like meaner mortals, would rather bear those ills they have than fly .to others that they know not of. The Ministerial benches may sometimes be a little, sultry, but the wintry cold of opposition is infinitely worse to bear. We trust, however, that when the report of the Commission is laid before the House— and the House will have ' : to watch that: the Government do not choke the inquiry~soine member br members will point but, fpr the sake of „the;fair fame of the 7 colony,; that : it is not the'custom of New Zealanders to treat WOmen in\tbe brutal and barbaronsmanner in which the Wellingjipn Hospital were treated by the or the Hosnital; Committee-rfor we canZMdtZ '$& 'tell which ! (though %c suspect •U'oth) are to blame, There is nothing but mismanagement and scandal ion every hand, The jbHJsp£ of wpw? J»te tlw Sferfcl>

church' Hospital grievance, to call it by a j>olite name, reflects little honour on< the Ministry ; though the particulars of- that case are likely to be brought before the of the public" in another .way. finery possible effort ought to; be made 7 to place the mangement of such institutions as our Hospitals and Asylums above suspicion. We Protestants labour under a^ sad disadvantage in not having tho help of volunteer philanthropy in the administration of /our public, charity. What an incalculable blessing would not the presence of a lady v be in # hospital, a'^be'h'ftvolent^institutionj-sor even a lunatio 'asylum — a lady vowed", and dedicate by the impulse of her own pure and charitable spirit to the serviceof the poor 1 One such lady ih every such institution would be worth all our inspectors and committees and colonial secretaries a j thousand times -told. .She would move about like a ministering angel^ with noiseless step and serene cheerful face,, making sunshine, to adapt the words of an bld'poetj in shady places, and sending erleams of heaven's own chrflfy into hearts' which are too Often apt to be chilled and saddened by the unsympathetic hand and eye of mercenary help. And what an incalulable. blessing would not Buch a service be to hundreds and thousands of idle, amiable, purposeless women in Protestant Christendom ? The Reformation was not all gain.