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Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1012, 10 May 1917, Page 6

When a man who has met with a serious accident in the very heart of the city cannot obtain the services of the ambulance for something approaching half an hour, it is time for the community to ask why. When, as a result of their asking, they discover that there is first a telephone puzzle to be solved, and then a horse lo be harnessed and a van to be yoked, it is time to put their hands in" their pockets. And that is precisely what the Ambulance Association is about to ask us to do. Horses belong to the days before the flood. It is as dangerous as it is prehistoric that in a city so advanced as this the man who has broken his leg, say, should lie among an anxious gazing crowd till a jog-trottinghorse should arrive on the scene. Further than that, we feel certain that only a comparatively few are aware that our arrangements continue so primitive. The man who has suffered, of course, with his friends and relatives and a few earnest officials besides, may be vividly conscious of the real position, but so far as the general public is concerned it seems difficult to suppose that the situation is realised at all. In any case it is for everyone now to effect a change. The association is about to make a general appeal for funds, and it is an appeal, one hopes, to which all who can will respond. A fair sum is already in hand, but in addition to this and some subscriptions already promised, very much more is required to enable the association to do its duty lo the public. We earnestly beg our readers to be ready when the subcommittee sends round the hat.