Waitaki District Hospital And Charitable Aid Board (Incorporated 1885). Mr J. Church, secretary. This Board consists of the members of the Waitaki County Council, together with the mayor of Oamaru and four councillors elected by the borough, and the mayor and two councillors of Hambden. The Mayor of Oamaru is, ex officio, chairman of the board, which makes an annual requisition on the bodies connected with it, for a contribution in proportion to value for the purpose of administering charitable aid in the district.

The Oamaru Hospital Contributors . (Incorporated under the Hospital and Charitable Aid Institutions' Act, 1885, and Amendment Act, 1886.) The trustees for 1903 were: Messrs J. Mainland (president), W. H. Rose, A. J. S. Headland, W. C. McDouall, J. H. Barr, and D. Hay; Mr. J. Church (secretary). The trustees are entrusted with the management of the Oamaru Hospital, and derive their revenue mainly from a Provincial Government grant of four thousand acres at Livingstone and Kauroo. The properties are let at a rental which amounts to £915 per annum. Local subscriptions amount to about £100 a year, and on this the institution obtains a Government subsidy of twenty-four shillings per pound. The accumulated funds amount to about £3000, which is bearing interest. The annual expenditure of the hospital is over £1300 a year.

Mr. John Mainland , Chairman of the Oamaru Hospital Contributors, was born in Lerwick, Shetland lsles, in 1835. He was brought up as a builder and contractor and arrived in Port Chalmers, in 1858, by the ship “Three Bells.” About the end of the following year, he settled in Oamaru, where he has since been engaged in connection with his trade, either as employee or employer. From 1872 to 1886 Mr. Mainland served as president of the hospital board, and on the establishment of the present body, he was presented with an illuminated address in recognition of his services. Subsequently he became chairman of the new institution.

Mr. Alfred James Samuel Headland , J.P., who is a Trustee of the Oamaru Hospital Contributors, was born in 1831, in London, where he was educated and brought up as a compositor. In 1858 he landed in Port Chalmers, from the ship “Agra, and three months later settled in the Oamaru district, where he was for a short time engaged in pastoral pursuits. Mr. Headland established himself in business in Thames Street in 1866, and the beginning then made has grown into his present connection. Mr. Headland was a member of the Borough Council for about six years, and he has for a long time been connected with the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, as a member of the committee. He was married in 1854 to a daughter of the late Captain Havelock Huntrods, of Sunderland, and has four daughters and three sons.

Mr. John Church , Secretary of the Oamaru Hospital Contributors, was born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, in 1821, and finished his education at the Edinburgh University. Mr. Church was brought up as a farmer; and before coming to the Colonies he had the management of properties in Scotland, and in the North of England, and in Warwickshire, successively. In 1852 he emigrated to Victoria, but soon after went to Tasmania, where he remained about nine years and had the management of farms and the charge of a flourmill, and afterwards of a starch and vinegar factory. In 1863 he settled in Dunedin, and three years later he became editor of the “Bruce Herald.” In 1869 Mr. Church took a similar position on the “Bruce Standard,” which he conducted till becoming editor of the “Oamaru Times in 1872. Shertly afterwards he was appointed accountant to Mr. Henry Connell, with whom he remained for three years. During his residence in Milton, Mr. Church founded the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club, of which he was secretary for five years. He has held the position of secretary of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association since 1872, and is recognised as the oldest secretary in the Colony. He has managed the finances of the local hospital since 1874, and was long connected with school committees and other public offices in Oamaru. Mr. Church was married in 1855 to a daughter of Dr. T. Brownell, of Tasmania, and has five sons and six daughters surviving.

Mr. J. Church.

The Oamaru Hospital occupies a site on eight acres of land at the top of a ridge, from which an extensive seaview is obtainable. The whole of the buildings are constructed of local limestone, and there is accommodation for twenty-five patients, space having been provided in the original portion for fourteen and in the new male ward for eleven. In the older building there are five wards, together with a vestibule, surgery, nurses' rooms, kitchen, and the apartments of the matron and chief warder, who is also dispenser and steward. The new male ward is a very fine apartment, lofty and well ventilated. The capital operating theatre is equipped with the most modern surgical appliances, and has light from the roof, as well as from the sides. The hospital contains two baths, to which both hot and cold water is laid on. At some distance behind the main building, there is a fever ward, which is fitted up for eight patients, but such is the healthiness of the town and district, that it is seldom in use. The outbuildings attached to the premises comprise a dairy, a cow byre, a laundry of two apartments, a coal-shed and a gardener's cottage. A large piece of ground is in cultivation, as a kitchen and vegetable garden, and the entire requirements of the institution in this respect are thus fully provided for, and a considerable quantity of fruit is also grown. There are also paddocks for the cows, which number three, and a fine meadow in front supplies fodder for winter feed in abundance. Dr. MacGregor's reports on the Oamaru Hospital are uniformly favourable, and residents of the town and district may congratulate themselves on the excellence of the institution.

Mr. David Somers Montagu , who was for a time one of the Trustees of the Oamaru Hospital, was born in London in 1842. After completing his studies at the City of London School and privately, he was brought up to mercantile life, and came out to Auckland in 1864, by the ship “Amersham.” Mr. Montagu entered the Bank of New Zealand as ledger-keeper, and shortly afterwards was sent to the West Coast goldfields, and reached Hokitika by the steamer “Nelson,” the first vessel to enter the river. He was subsequently stationed in Greymouth, and afterwards in Nelson till 1869, when he became accountant at Invercargill. Four years later Mr. Montagu was sent to open the Rangiora branch of the bank, and in the following year he was transferred to Southbridge. Subsequently he was for a short time in the Christchurch office, and then he became acting accountant at Dunedin. In 1875 he resigned his position in the bank, and took a trip to England, and on his return to the Colony in the following year, he declined to accept office as accountant in the bank, as he preferred to settle in Oamaru, where he became accountant to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, and held that position until 1889. In the following year he joined Mr. G. R. Hislop in business under the style of Hislop and Montagu, but a year later he retired from the firm and has since conducted business on his own account. He was for several years a member of the Waitaki High School Board of Governors, page 513 and has been connected with the local school committees. Mr. Montagu was married in 1881 to a daughter of the late Mr. Edward Gifford, of Oamaru, the well-known artist, and gold medallist of the Royal Academy.

Mr. Herbert Desmond , Chief Warder, who also acts as dispenser and steward of the Oamaru Hospital, was born in Cambridge, England, in 1848. He was educated in his native place and joined the army in 1867 as a private; left in 1870, rejoined in 1871; was promoted to the rank of corporal after four years' service, and became sergeant in 1876. While he was in the army he went all through the North West frontier campaign in India. During his military life he passed examinations as dispenser, and left the force in 1883, when he arrived, by the s.s. “Ruapehu” in Port Chalmers. Mr. Desmond was settled for a year in Temuka, and was then appointed to his present position. He takes a keen interest in the numerous duties of his office and has brought his ingenuity to bear on the construction of appliances in connection with the establishment. One of Mr. Desmond's ingenious devices is an ambulance carriage, which is built on a frame having cushioned tyre wheels, and so made that the patient can be carefully lifted from the carriage without being handled. This appliance, when perfected, must prove invaluable in all cases of accident. Mr. Desmond was married in 1884 to a daughter of the late Mr. W. Wainwright, of Manchester, England.

Mr. H. Desmond.

Mrs Desmond.

Mrs. Susan Desmond , Matron of the Oamaru Hospital, was born in Manchester, where she was educated at private schools. She was appointed to the Oamaru Hospital at the same time as her husband.

The North Otago Benevolent Institution , which occupies a commanding position overlooking the harbour and town of Oamaru, was established about the year 1876. It was originally the Immigration Barracks, and consists of two dormitories of ten beds each, and there are also ten single bedrooms. There is thus sleeping accommodation for thirty inmates. The kitchen, etc., and the master's and matron's rooms occupy the centre of the building. The new Home for incurables is attached to the institution. It is a handsome building of Oamaru stone, and was built in commemoration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897. There are two wards in this building; the male ward contains eight beds, and there are four beds in the ward for females.

Mr. George Bisset , Master of the Institution, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he learned the trade of a stonemason. He came to New Zealand in 1866, in the ship “Stratlrallan.” Mr. Bisset married in 1882, a daughter of Mr. William Catto, farmer, Aberdeen, and his wife is Matron of the institution. Mr. and Mrs. Bisset resided for a number of years in the Papakaio district, and were appointed to their present positions in March 1898.

Mr. and Mrs G. Bisset.

Mr. James Houston Milligan has for many years served as a member of the Benevolent Society, and was born in Dumfries, in 1811. He was educated at New Abbey, and was brought up to business as a tailor in Maxwelltown. Mr. Milligan came to Port Chalmers, by the ship “Storm Cloud,” in 1862. Six months after his arrival, he commencod business in King Street, Dunedin, and removed two years later to George Street. In December, 1868, he settled in Oamaru, where he established the large business which he has since conducted, and which is more fully referred to elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Milligan has in his business been subject to the vicissitudes which frequently fall to the lot of enterprising men. In 1885, he was obliged to ask for concessions, but he has since paid the whole of his liabilities in full. The circumstance was duly appreciated by his creditors, who presented him with a handsome piece of silver plate in recognition of his commercial integrity. Mr. Milligan has been prominent as a zealous temperance reformer for forty yeas, and has been connected with the Gospel Temperance Mission, the Good Templar Order, and the prohibition movement in Dunedin and Oamaru. He is connected with St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, and has held office as an elder for many years. Mr. Milligan was married, in Dunedin, by the late Rev. Dr. Stuart, to a daughter of the late Mr. D. Smeaton, of Auchterarder, Scotland, and has four daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Mrs. McFadgen, died in 1890.

Mr. J. H. Milligan.