THE PROPOSED -HOSPITAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4533, 6 February 1942, Page 5

THE PROPOSED -HOSPITAL

Sir,—I have recently read the account of the attitude of the local branch of the Farmers’ Union, in your issue of 19th January, towards the proposed public subsidiary hospital for Te Awamutu, which, so I infer, suggests that the time is not opportune. Now, Sir, to my mind, if the project was justifiable some little time ago, when unanimously endorsed at a public meeting, it is infinitely more so now. The very fact of danger to our shores suggests that now is the time to prepare for any eventualities. Surely we are not going to adopt such a defeatist attitude and wait for the worst to happen, before making any effort to provide for possible casualties. Naturally we have to wait for a lead from the military authorities in the matter of defence, but this is a civilian effort, more than justified as part of our scheme of rehabilitation for our boys from overseas. With the present shortage, and possible still further reduction of petrol, the need for local accommodation for both civilian and military patients becomes more necessary. The present danger emphasises the need of decentralisation, particularly in such institutions as hospitals. Observation does not suggest that as a community we are marking time—business premises are still being enlarged and renovated. One ’can still buy articles with no deposit and a shilling per week for the next five years. We should not then be considered super-optimists for budgeting for the health and welfare of the civil population and those returned soldiers who should have the best, attention possible. What better than such accommodation in their own home town? Some years ago, right in the midst of what we call the depression, a lady who still does her bit for the community interest, proposed at the annual meeting of the Dental Clinic that a much needed new building be erected for that institution. The usual opposition said the time was not opportune. Within a year it became an accomplished fact, much to the benefit of children requiring early dental attention. We are not now in a depression. Let us act now! These few lines are not written in any way to antagonise the local Farmers’ Union, and if the project is to be brought about it will be necessary for all sections of the community to do their best to induce the powers that be to see the advantage and justice of our claim. It is an admitted truism that dissension within the ranks is the surest means of delaying any project.—Yours, etc., G.S.C.