Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Charitable Institutions

Charitable Institutions.

South Canterbury Hospital And Charitable Aid Board was established in 1885. The functions of the Board are to administer hospital and charitable aid and out-door relief in South Canterbury, to board out children, supervise the old men's refuge, provide moneys for the maintenance of the Timaru and Waimate hospitals, to receive contributions from local bodies, and the Government subsidy of £ for £ for maintenance of the institution. Its total revenue for 1901–1902 was £8,106, the expenditure being £6,245. Members for 1902: Messrs F. R. Gillingham and G. Butler, elected by the Mackenzie and Levels County Councils; Messrs W. Coltman and P. Studholme, Waimate Borough Council and Waimate County Council; and Mr. James Craigie, Mayor of Timaru. The secretary and treasurer is Mr. Reuben Orwin.

Mr. Reuben Orwin, Secretary and Treasurer of the South Canterbury Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, was born in 1854 at Chatham, Kent, England, where he was educated at the national schools and served six years in the dockyards. Landing at Lyttelton in 1874 from the ship “Geraldine Paget,” he went to Dunedin, where he resided for seven years. Returning to Canterbury, he spent twelve months in the Cathedral City, then came to Timaru, where he commenced business as a general commission agent. In 1889, Mr. Orwin was appointed secretary and treasurer to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. He acts as district agent for the Australian Alliance Fire Insurance Company, of Hamburg, and the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company. He is chairman of the Timaru Floral and Horticultural Society, and secretary of the United Friendly Societies' dispensary, Timaru. page 981 As a member of the Masonic fraternity, he is a Past Master of Lodge St. John, No. 1137, E.C. He is an Oddfellow of twenty-seven years standing, has been through all the chairs of the Lodge, and filled the office of grand master of the Hand and Heart Lodge, Dunedin. Mr. Orwin is married, and has four children.

Mr. R. Orwin.

Mr. R. Orwin.

Timaru Hospital. This fine institution occupies an elevated position at the corner of High and Queen Streets, and is erected on a site comprising four acres of land, which originally formed part of the domain reserve. The building has been twice enlarged, and has a very pleasant and imposing appearance, the grounds being tastefully laid out and considered among the most beautiful of any connected with similar public institutions in the Colony. There is accommodation for sixty-six patients, the male ward containing twenty-two beds and the female ward twelve beds, besides two side wards. The steward, matron, nurses, and domestic servants occupy commodius quarters in the central portion of the building; the board and lecture rooms are also in the centre, the wards being on either side. At the rear of the block are the lavatories, operating-room, morgue, and workshops, with an extensive kitchen garden on the west side. Extensive additions have lately been made to provide quarters for the nurses and wards for fever patients.

Timaru Hospital: 1898.

Timaru Hospital: 1898.

Gabites, George Edward B.Sc. M.B. C.M., F.R.C.S. (Ed.), Surgeon Superintendent of the Timaru Hospital. Dr Gabites was born in Christchurch in 1867. He was educated privately, and at the Timaru High School, and went to Edinburgh to study for his profession in 1888. He graduated B.Sc. in 1891, took his M.B. and C.M. diplomas in 1894, and in 1898, he took his F.R.C.S. For six months he was Resident Physician at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, and for three months Resident Surgeon at the Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital; he was also for a year afterwards, Medical Superintendent of the Edinburgh Provident Dispensary, and during that period was Demonstrator in Anatomy at Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh. Dr Gabites returned to New Zealand in 1899, and was appointed in October of that year to his present position at Timaru. Since taking up his duties, Dr Gabites has been absent for a year as Surgeon-Captain to the New Zealand Seventh Contingent in South Africa.

Ferrier, photoDr. G. E. Gabites.

Ferrier, photo
Dr. G. E. Gabites.

Mr. Thomas Jowsey, for twenty-three years Steward of the Timaru Hospital, was born in 1852 at Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, and was educated at a private academy conducted by Dr. Greaves, and at the high school in that town. He joined the army and saw six years' active service in India with the 15th Hussars. In 1878 he purchased his discharge and returned to England, where he married, and shortly afterwards sailed for Port Chalmers in the ship “Otaki. Five weeks after his arrival in the Colony he received the appointment of steward of the Timaru Hospital, a position which he worthily filled till the 21st of July, 1903, when he and Mrs Jowsey resigned, in order to proceed to South Africa. The Board, in accepting the resignation, decided to place on record its appreciation of the services rendered by Mr. and Mrs Jowsey. Mr. Jowsey devoted a great deal of attention to the improvement and beautifying of the hospital grounds. As a Freemason he was a member of Lodge St. John, E.C. He is further referred to at pages 142–143, in the Military Section of this volume.

Mrs Jowsey, formerly Matron at the Timaru Hospital, was born at Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire, England. She rendered good service to the hospital by her careful attention to the comfort of the patients. Shortly after her appointment, she collected, mainly by her own exertions, the sum of £120, which was devoted to the purchase of invalid chairs and other articles for the use of patients.

The Benevolent Home at Timaru is under the control of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and was originally established as an Old Men's Home about 1895. The main building was used successively as a church, a school, and an immigration barracks, before being devoted to the purpose of a home. The page 982 buildings, which have been recently enlarged are of wood and iron, and stand on part of an acre of land, where vegetables for the Home, as well as flowers, are grown. The Home has accommodation for about forty men and women.

Benevolent Home, Timaru.

Benevolent Home, Timaru.

Mr. James Young, who has charge of the Timaru Benevolent Home, was born at Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, in 1843. He emigrated to South Australia, in 1884, and subsequently came to New Zealand. In 1874 Mr. Young settled in Dunedin, where he found employment for nine years in connection with the timber and coal trade. He then came to Timaru, where he had charge of the Athletic Grounds until November, 1892, when he received his present appointment. Mr. Young was married in December, 1874, to a daughter of the late Mr. T. Todhunter, of Liverpool, and has one son and two daughters.

Ferrier, photo.Mr. and Mrs J. Young.

Ferrier, photo.
Mr. and Mrs J. Young.

Mrs Young, Matron of the Timaru Benevolent Home, was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, where she was educated and brought up. She came out to New Zealand to be married in 1874, and has held her present position since November, 1892.

The Ettrick Bank Private Hospital, High Street, Timaru. Telephone 13. Amongst the many private hospitals in the Canterbury provincial district, that of Ettrick Bank at Timaru is unsurpassed for the pieturesqueness of its surroundings, and the salubrity of its situation. It occupies a fertile piece of land between High Street and the beach, and is completely concealed from the public gaze by the luxuriant native bush. A winding and gravelled path leads from High Street to the front entrance. The building is of two stories in brick and plaster, and is surrounded on three sides by a verandah. There is a large and neatly furnished dining room on the ground floor, as well as two general wards, and the servants' dining rooms; whilst the upper floor contains a number of suitably appointed bedrooms for patients, and an operating room. The Ettrick Bank Hospital was established by Nurses Morrison and Christian in 1899, and conducted by them till 1901, when Miss Morrison withdrew, leaving Nurse Christian sole owner of the institution. This lady is now assisted by a certificated nurse and a probationer, and under her care the hospital enjoys a wide patronage. All the medical practitioners in the district send patients to the institution.

Ettrick Bank Hospital, Timaru.

Ettrick Bank Hospital, Timaru.

Nurse Annie Christian, Proprietress of the Ettrick Bank Hospital, has had a wide experience in her calling. She is a native of Christchurch, but was educated at the Dunedin High School. Miss Christian afterwards went to Australia, where she entered as a probationer at Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, Sydney, and gained her diploma as a certificated nurse. On returning to New Zealand in 1898, she was appointed Head Nurse of the Greymouth Hospital, but shortly afterwards removed to the Public Hospital, Timaru, where she remained till 1899. In that year she associated herself with Nurse Morrison in establishing the Ettrick Bank Hospital, of which she is now sole owner.

Miss A. Christian.

Miss A. Christian.