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Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 378, 27 April 1915, Page 6

There is something to: stir the sympathy and admiration of everyone in the offer made by Miss Jane Chalmers, of Ashburton, to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. A letter was received at.;thi,s morning's ,meeting, in which this ladj' displayed her generous thought by offering; any sum up to £BOOO that niayrbe; required for; the '■ purpose of

building ahd^Equipping,a ward for incurable; cases.. ; Such .a donation, of course, carries with it a Government subsidy of £24/- in the £, so that if the full amount of £BOOO were called : ori it.;.would . mean that the board would have for expenditure nearly £IB,OOO. A ward, sxieh, as proposed could be built and equipped for much less, but some j endowment would be required to provide in some measure for the cost of upkeep. Miss Chalmers's stipulation with the gift is that the ward shall be known as "The Chalmers' Memorial Ward for Incurables," as a memorial to her uncles, Messrs John and Peter Chalmers. It-would-'stand as a monument to the donor's generosity in any case, but it is well tfiHt the name of the giver .should be perpetuated, if only as a reminder to others that here in the hospital is a proper object of benefaction and one that'calls most strongly to people of means for assistance. The Hospital and .Charitable Aid Board has many activities and has by no means too many funds with which to carry out its work, and in some cases it c&n reasonably be said that people who have made great wealth in the province have been singularly forgetful of such important public institutions as this. This bountiful offer points an obvious lesson to the niany who, having money to bequeath,* ignore the wants of poorer folk and those in suffering, who ■. have a natural claim upon their bounty through the common humanity. Miss Chalmers will receive the sincere thanks of the people of the province because her action deserves them. : ~,