The Hospital.

Though Dunedin Hospital ranks first in importance and "usefulness among the city and provincial philanthropic institutions, and while the number of persons who have passed through its wards and received the benefits it confers exceeds by far the many who have been connected with all the other institutions put together, yet little can be said of it, and its story is soon told.

The principles on which the Otago settlement was founded were a guarantee that the sick poor within the bounds of the Province would not be neglected. At first, when the settlers were few, and when there was no migratory population, there were none who could in the general acceptation of the term be designated "the sick poor." Nevertheless, ere the Province was two years old, steps were taken towards the establishment of a hospital. But the action was premature. Possibly those who initiated the movement deemed it wise to make provision for any emergency of the nature of an epidemic. At least one immigrant ship, the "Moultan," was ravaged on the way out by the fearful scourge of cholera; and although in such cases the vessels and passengers were kept in quarantine until all traces of the disease had disappeared, some general accommodation for convalescents might be required. But whatever were the circumstances that prompted the authorities, in 1850 the subject was formally brought under the notice of Governor Sir George Grey, while he was on a visit to the young settlement, and he granted the sum of £250 out of the Otago Customs duties for the erection of a small hospital in. Dunedin. As already remarked, the institution, so far as actual need was concerned, was in advance of the times, for more than two years passed before any physically sick patients occupied its page 217beds. Towards the end of that period, however, the building was made the home of three insane persons, and subsequently it was divided between the physically sick and the insane—the former, of course, ultimately preponderating.

The first hospital, built in 1851, was located on the site on which the City Chambers stand, on the south-western corner of the Octagon. For several years all requirements were comfortably met by small extensions; but when the gold diggings broke out in 1861, and immigrants poured into Dunedin, the-demand for much larger accommodation very soon became urgent. Towards the end of 1862 extensive additions were made, and while these were in course of completion a portion of the Immigration Barracks in Princes street south was used as a temporary hospital, under the charge of Mr. Wm. Dryburgh, who is still in the service. Like all institutions that have grown from small to large compass, the buildings that formed the hospital at the Octagon were disjoined and irregular. In 1866 they consisted of a one-storied wooden building, containing 25 beds; another, containing 16 beds; one three-storied wooden building, with 72 beds; two two-storied buildings, with 32 beds each; a stone building, with 11 beds; a maternity ward of timber, with 12 beds; besides operating room, mortuary, entrance lodge, and superintendent's residence—all separate. All these buildings now do duty in various places, most of them at the Industrial School at Look-out Point. The mortuary, however, still serves its purpose at the present hospital, and the stone building, now converted into a shed, remains on the ground behind the City Chambers.

In 1865 the question of the disposal of the Industrial Exhibition Building in King street, which had served the purpose for which it was erected, and was then standing idle, engaged the attention of the Provincial Council, and on the 6th of May of that year the Council, on the motion of Mr. (now the Hon.) W. H. Reynolds, decided that the building should "be appropriated for the purpose of an Hospital, the annexes to be purchased from the Royal Commissioners, if obtainable at a reasonable rate, and that measures be taken to put the building into a proper condition for an Hospital." The absolutely necessary alterations having been made, the Hospital was page 218transferred from the Octagon to its present position in 1866, and in the months of August and September the difficult task of removing the 124 inmates was successfully accomplished. Previous to this, the insane patients, who had increased to about 20, had been located in the Lunatic Asylum. With all the alterations, however, the King street building was ill adapted to the purposes of an Hospital; but in the course of years since then, it has, by the outlay of large sums of money, undergone great improvements, and as a curative establishment been brought to a high state of perfection, in spite of its architectural defects.

In 1887 a much-felt need was supplied by the formation of two children's wards, with twelve beds; but to make way for hem the removal of the maternity ward was necessitated. The latter is now in the Benevolent Institution at Caversham. In the same year another important addition was made by the erection of a large and fully-equipped operating theatre, at a cost of £1600; it is a substantial and handsome structure. As a medical school, Dunedin Hospital, with its operating theatre, is invaluable. Large numbers of students daily walk the wards, and receive from the honorary medical and surgical staff lectures based on the great variety of cases dealt with; and already several medical gentlemen trained in the University and in the Hospital are in practice in the colony, while a goodly number who elected to finish their course in the universities and hospitals in the Home Country were fitted by their well-grounded elementary training here to acquit themselves with marked success. Further advancement, in the shape of a gynecological ward and of a Nurses' Home, have for some time been under consideration, a considerable sum of money having been subscribed for these purposes; but in respect of these matters there seems to be a lack of unanimity, and, judging by newspaper reports, a disposition on the part of some of those concerned to make the money the nucleus of a fund for the erection of an entirely new Hospital on the most approved principles.

Since the Hospital was established in 1851 its management has undergone several changes. Dr. Williams, a city practitioner, was its first medical officer, by appointment of Sir George Grrey; but after a short period of service he was succeeded page 219by Dr. Hulme in the capacity of Provincial Surgeon, which position the latter gentleman held up to his death in 1876. A visiting committee was also appointed in the first years, and that system of inspection was continued until the transference of the Hospital to King street; whilst independently of the visiting committee, the successive Superintendents of the Province ever took a direct and active interest in the institution's welfare. The control of the Hospital, however, was in the hands of Dr. Hulme. In 1863, owing to the tremendous increase in the number of patients, and with the view of relieving Dr. Hulme of the great responsibility attaching to the general affairs of the institution, the experiment was tried of entrusting the general management to a Superintendent; but it did not give satisfaction. In lieu of an independent Superintendent, therefore, a Secretary was appointed, and, with that officer resident in the Hospital, the control reverted to Dr. Hulme. Mr. Marcus Hume was the Secretary then placed in office; and in the year 1876 he was succeeded by Mr. Burns, now in charge, and under whom the principal improvements in the building and grounds have been carried out. Another change occurred in 1876, when the Hospital, with all other Provincial Government Institutions, passed into the hands of the General Government, who appointed a managing committee, of which Mr. A. C. Strode was for several years chairman; and upon that gentleman's retirement and removal to England, he was succeeded by Mr. Henry Houghton, who, after devoting in the course of the years much of his time to the interests of the institution, still holds that honourable position. A further change took place in 1885, when the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Act was passed, and since then the Hospital has been in charge of Trustees, annually elected by voluntary subscribers to the institution, and by the contributing bodies within the Hospital district. Prior to the passing of the Act of 1885, patients from all parts of Otago were freely admitted; but as the Act makes each district responsible for its own poor, payment for invalids received into the City Hospital from outside districts must now be guaranteed.

There has also from the first been great fluctuation in the number of inmates. While forover two years after the Hospital page 220was opened not one sick person sought for admission, in the years 1862-3, when large additions were made to the building, the wards were filled to overflowing. In 1866, the year of removal from the Octagon to King street, the number fell to 124; but several years afterwards, when free immigration was in full swing, another enormous increase necessitated the addition of two large temporary wards in the annexe, and the conversion of small rooms in the main building into sick chambers, and even then every bed in the Hospital was occupied. Now, however, one hundred is the daily average. This reduction in the number of inmates is of great advantage to the Hospital, not only on the score of economy, but chiefly on sanitary grounds, as it enables the authorities to keep two wards in turn empty, which, while unoccupied, are throughout their length and breadth and height cleansed and disinfected and repainted. By this system the Hospital is kept in as thorough a state of purity as it possibly can be.

Until within recent years the Hospital was from force of circumstances made in part to serve the purpose of a home for incurables. As there was no place for the accommodation of such unfortunates, they had to be retained as patients, and in the course of the years their numbers increased considerably. This inconvenience, however, was obviated by the erection of the Old Men's Home at Caversham, to which the hopelessly infirm and disabled were gradually transferred, and the institution in King steeet is now wholly what it was intended to be—a curative establishment.

The Hospital stands in the centre of a block of five acres, and on each side are extensive, well-laid-out gardens, with gravelled walks and abundance of seats. The one on the south side is the exercise ground for such of the male patients as are not confined to the wards; the other on the north side being reserved for female patients. A portion of the latter also forms the playground of the young people in the children's wards. Besides the comfortable seats under the shade of the trees, wheel-chairs are provided for those who are unable to walk, but whose condition permits them to go out into the open air and sunlight.

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Among the Hospital facilities for the comfort of the physically suffering is a covered-in ambulance, with bed on rollers and seat accommodation for an attendant. This vehicle is available in the case of accidents or for prostrate dinvalids coming from distant parts of the city or suburbs, or from the railway station; a telephonic or telegraphic message to the institution being the only notice requisite to ensure its being sent where required.

A good many years ago, the opening of a public dispensary in Dunedin was contemplated; but the necessity for such an institution was obviated by the establishment of the Out-door Consulting Department as a branch of the Hospital work. At first the House Surgeon was the only out-door consulting doctor; but now cases of a general nature receive his attention, while as experts, Dr. Batchelor attends to diseases peculiar to women, Dr. John Macdonald to diseases of the skin, Dr. Lindo Ferguson to eye, ear, and throat complaints, and Dr. de Zouche to the ailments of children. This charity is of great advantage to such of the sick poor as can remain in their own homes; but as it was much abused by persons in fair-to-do circumstances availing themselves of it, all applicants must now, to the satisfaction of the authorities, certify to their inability to pay for medical advice and medicine.

While in the aggregate those who in the course of the year receive gratuitous out-door advice far exceed the in-patients in number, the out-door branch of the Hospital work is, of course, the least important. The real work lies in the wards; all the in-patients being under the care of an Honorary Medical and Surgical Staff of nine gentlemen elected annually, with the addition of the resident House Surgeon and his assistant. This system, which ensures careful consultation and all proper treatment in serious and intricate cases, has with good results been in operation since 1876. The gentlemen constituting the present Honorary Staff are: Drs. Batchelor, Lindo Eerguson, J. Macdonald, Maunsell, Coughtrey, Gordon Macdonald, Jeffcoat, and Ogston. Recently another honorary office was created by the election of Dr. William Brown to the position of Honorary Consulting Surgeon in connection with the Hospital, he having, when he retired in 1888, been senior member of the Honorary Staff.

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"While in tie early days the Hospital was placed under the control of Dr. Hulme as Provincial Surgeon, he had under him a House Surgeon, in the person of Dr. Yates (recently deceased), who held office until the year of Provincial abolition. Since Dr. Yates's retirement the House Surgeonship has been held successively by Drs. Tighe (who died while in the service), Roberts, Davis, again Roberts, Fleming, Barclay, and Copland. The last-named gentleman is now in office, in conjunction with Dr. Earnest E. Fooks, Dr. John Brown, recently retired, held the position of dispenser for over twenty years, and that duty is now discharged by Mr. Frederick Akhurst. Mrs. Jessie Reid was the first matron, she being succeeded in 1877 by Mrs. Burton, now in office. Mr. S. Smith, afterwards minister of Port Chalmers Congregational Church, was the first chaplain to the Hospital; and Mr. J. A. Torrance, after 21 years' services, now holds that office. Recently, the Anglican Church in Dunedin appointed the Rev. W. Ronaldson to visit patients connected with that persuasion. For several years Father Moreau, a gentleman universally respected, discharged the duties of Roman Catholic chaplain, and since his retirement the work has been carried on by the reverend gentlemen connected with that church in Dunedin.