BOOK OF THE WEEK

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

BOOK OF THE WEEK

SURGEONS AND PIONEERS

(By

U.S.)

Pioneer Medical Men of Taranaki, 1834 to 1880, with an account of the establishment of Hospital Accommodation at New Plymouth. By W. H. Skinner. Thomas Avery & Sons, Ltd., New Plymouth. Price ss.

It goes without saying that any work by Mr. W. H. Skinner on early Taranaki will be welcomed. To meticulous research he can add . personal experience over many years and the personal knowledge of many of the pioneers of whom the province and the Dominion are proudest. “Pioneer Medical Men of Taranaki” is, as the title explains, a contribution to the history of Taranaki from the angle of the medical profession. Like all Mr. Skinner’s tales of the pioneers it is a plain, straightforward'-record of men and their work; interesting when it tells the reader of what he knew nothing before and just as interesting when it tells from a n?w angle a story of which little is known. The volume is composed with skill and Sympathy, and when Mr. Skinner occasionally seasons it with a touch of humour the reader is'tempted to wish he did not feel always the responsibilities of the historian and would tell the public some more of the intimate lives of those pioneers he knows so well.

The period which saw the birth of an Europeanised New Zealand were stirring years. Europe had made a slow recovery from the depression of the Napoleonic wars, a generation had grown up to whom a world war was but a fact in history—family and national and everywhere, in politics, manufacture, science, there were signs of new growth. And in no 'profession was the yeast of new knowledge working with more force than in the medical profession. Dr. W. B. Marshall was the surgeon of H.M.S. Alligator when she came to New Zealand in 1834, and Mr. Skinner puts him first in the list of Taranaki’s medical men. In doing so the author gives a brief account of the happenings which brought the Alligator from Sydney to the Taranaki coast. Brief as the story is, it shows what men of grit and daring those old whaling captains were. The story of the wreck of the Harriett, Captain Richard Hall’s appeal to the authorities for aid against the Maoris who had despoiled him, killed his men and taken prisoner his wife and two children is an epic in itself, but it is not the story of Mr. Skinner’s latest book. The point is that the spirit of inquiry was sufficiently abroad to make even a workaday navy surgeon see it was Worth while noting scenery, native habits and dwellings, plants and trees in any new country he might visit. So it was the first doctor to visit Taranaki who gave us “a valuable contribution to the story of the earliest European contact with the Maoris of the Taranaki coast,” while Dr. Marshall’s detailed description “is the only record we have in these, parts of an old-time fighting pa, or chief fortified village.” The next two medical men on the Taranaki roll Were Dr. Ernest Dieffenbach, Berlin, and Dr. J. Dorset, who came with the “Wakefield” pioneers to Wellington, .and- .thence : to Taranaki, .in the ship Tory. Dr.‘ Dieffenbach’s visit is celebrated by his being the first European to make the ascent of Mount Egmont and for leaving on record a full description of his climb and of the country in and around New Plymouth and away to the north as far as Mokau. Dr, Dorset appears to have occupied his stay of 12 days at Moturoa in obtaining the signatures of natives to the sale of land in the Taranaki district. With the coming of the ship William Bryan with the first emigrants for Taranaki began the development of the medical profession in the province as we know it to-day. Dr. Henry Weeks was surgeon on the William Bryan and took up his residence in the “settlement of New Plymouth with the. appointment of “Colonial Surgeon.” Mr. Skinner gives interesting details of the care with which medical supervision and public health matters were provided for by the Plymouth Company on the emigrant ships. Hospital stores and comforts were duly shipped, and though they strike the reader as being fairly plain and limited in scope and quantity the fact that public health was considered of such importance is a tribute to the zeal with which the Company made its preparations for founding new settlements. Even a hospital of sorts was provided, and though its dimensions were meagre and its design had no apparent reference to the use proposed for the building its provision indicated a recognition of the settlement’s needs. It must be remembered also that those were the dark days of the nursing profession.. “Sairey Gamp” reigned, and the best of public hospitals in England was an awesome place for the sick. '• From the time Dr. Weeks arrived the supply of medical men never failed. Most of them in the early days seem to have suffered from a lack of patients and to have become settlers as well as surgeons. Some of them like Dr. P. Wilson, Dr. T. E. Rawson,* Dr. R. Kyngdon, Dr. E. L.' Humphries, lived long enough in the settlement to leave the impress of their, work and personalities upon the community. With the outbreak of war the Army Surgeon came to Taranaki, and Mr. Skinner pays a tribute to his devotion and skill which was available to friend and foe, combatant or civilian. Among the medical men the war brought to Taranaki was Dr. P. J. O’Carroll. After army work, for which he received high commendation, Dr. O’Carroll settled down to practise in New Plymouth, where his name is still one to conjure with among the older residents. From Dr. O’Carroll’s time onward the record is more or less modern. It is supplemented by records from South Taranaki though these, of course, did not begin until the Maori War years.

The later portion of the book contains an interesting account of the establishment of what is now the New Plymouth Public Hospital. Mr. Skinner sketches the early efforts with clarity and sympathy and there are many who will look at an old building in Gill Street, New Plymouth, with more interest when they know it is a portion of one of the old-time hospitals. The hospital story is completed by a record compiled by Dr. H. B. Leatham—for many years head of the medical profession in New Plymouth—of the medical men associated with the administration of the hospital.

The final chapter is an article by Dr. O’Carroll on the medical botany in use by the Maoris before European contact, a very happy choice for the close of the volume. ,

The volume is Taranaki-printed and published, as well as written by a Taranaki man. Messrs. Thomas Avery and Son, Ltd., has made a great success as publisher. In printing, binding . and general “get up” the volume is as attractive to see and handle as the story it contains is interesting to study.