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Ambulance Work on the New Zealand
Railways.
Organiser Appointed.

After thorough investigation by a Committee set up for the purpose the Department has decided on a course of further action with the object of stimulating interest amongst employees in the principles and practice of first aid work. This will take the form of instituting ambulance classes and divisions, the supply of material and accommodation and the payment of doctor's fees, instruction, examination charges, and other incidental expenses. Mr. E. F. S. Grant, Coaching Foreman of Thorndon has been appointed to go through New Zealand with the object of placing before members in the different centres the advantage of possessing a knowledge of this class of work. He will also make such arrangements as will facilitate the establishment of ambulance classes and divisions throughout the Service.

Mr. Grant is an enthusiast in the first aid field, and with the assistance which the Board has now offered for the provision of ambulance activities, he means to have every member in any way engaged in train operations turned, before long, into a certificated first aid man. It is surely unnecessary at this stage to stress the importance of everyone having some knowledge of what to do when an accident occurs. Despite the variety of accidents which can happen under modern conditions, they are all capable of classification into certain broad groups such as shock, haemorrhage, fractures, poison, wcunds, burns, etc., while such matters as the right method for applying artificial respiration and for lifting and carrying the injured should be known by everyone because of the frequency with which the need for such knowledge arises. Much scientific sifting of the knowledge available has reduced the essential information to a course of simple instructions and methods suited to emergencies arising from any one of a multitude of causes given in a brief series of lectures and illustrations with sufficient clearness to ensure that any intelligent student may master them. Once mastered there is no danger of being nonplussed by any of the usual class of physical mishaps. The trained man knows the right course to pursue and meets an emergency with prompt and efficient action. From the simple case of a sprained ankle to the urgent action called for to stop arterial bleeding and thereby probably save a human life, he could advise and act correctly and promptly. The St. John Ambulance movement has a glorious history of good work done in the relief of suffering. In England His Majesty the King is Sovereign Head of the Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. The movement also has support and encouragement from the highest quarters in all other civilised countries. The medical profession welcomes the first aid exponent, for, rightly administered, first aid gives the doctor a far better chance when he arrives than he could possibly have otherwise—for the great function of first aid work is the prevention of those many ill effects that follow between the time of an accident and the arrival of the medical man.

It is well known that train travel is many times safer than any other mode of transit, but even when a year goes by without any passenger accident due to a failure in train operating, the 20 to 30 million passenger journeys yearly made on our system carry with them liability to the ordinary ills of humanity. Many suffer en route—not through any fault of the railways—from all manner of ailments from a plain headache to an epileptic fit. The first aid trained man can help in every case brought under his notice, he is equipped for any emergency. Then the actual operating of page 11 trains is fraught with an element of danger. In workshops and on the line, wherever, in fact, machinery is worked or heavy weights have to be moved, liability of accident exists. At level crossings too, the rashness of road using vehicle drivers endangers lives and has been responsible for many personal accidents calling for immediate first aid. It will thus be seen that the first aid training of railway men, and particularly trainmen, station staffs, and workshops employees, is of vital importance to the whole community. The movement deserves every encouragement, and this the Board of Management has decided to give. It therefore rests with the staff to take advantage of the opportunity now offered for gaining efficiency in the first aid realm. The value to the individual reaches far beyond his hours of duty with the Department, for it extends to the home, and makes him a better, because more efficient citizen. This feature alone makes first aid training worth while to the Railway employee. In pressing on with ambulance training the Railway Department is right in line with modern practice in other countries. England in particular has featured this side of railroading to a marked degree.

Recent files indicate that in America 600 Pullman Company employees have either received red-cross certificates for graduation in the first aid course, or are now in training. The new movement here will serve to link up sporadic efforts in first aid and ambulance training in various parts and branches of the Service into one complete unified and efficient organisation.

A trade opportunity missed is gone for ever. There is no second barrel—and there are very many shooting.

—H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.

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Do you love life, then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

He profits most who thinks not of profit but of how much service he is giving.