Readers are not, we hope too weary of the Victoria Nursing Home. "We have some belief that this may be the last article jon the subject at least for a long time to come. If it be so indeed, then this happy dénouement will be entirely due to the publicity given to the question. The importance to Shanghai of the V. N. H. and its nursing service; the arbitrary closing of the one and deplorable cutting down of the other; the sphinx-like attitude of the Council; and the all-important principle that here essentially was a matter to be decided not by Vehmgericht autocracy, but by open discussion and a fully informed vote of the ratepayers, jail called for the froest ventilation, The result, we venture to hope, will be nothing but good.
The main points in the controversy may briefly be recalled follows: The V. N. H., having been enlarged far beyond its ginally intended scope as a training school with a eds for patients, was costing the community more than thought by some to be justifiable. The Country Hospital was a free gift, saving the Council an outlay of at least a million taels, probably much ly wished to concentrate all its resources on developing what had cost it least, That the H. was old, could not be solid and sound for many years to come; but the great objection to moving it was that it would be neither safe nor fair to leave the large Hongkew residential quarter without a hospital. A week Jago Dr. Birt suggested a solu-ion which, in view of other circumstances that have since come to light, appears likely to settle the problem. The original five and a half mow of the Victoria Nursing Home should fetch Tls. 165,000: this, we believe, is a fair estimate. A suitable piece of land could be bought adjoining the Country Hospital at a cost of Tis, 55,000, and the balance of the money ' got by selling the V, N. H. would build 'a really satisfactory home for nurses and probationers and leave enough for an endowment for its maintenance. There remains the Hongkew and eastern riots' need of a hospital, particularly of a maternity home. This, we now learn, the Council has already decided to meet by building on some piece of the ground it possesses in the north or east district. Furthe more the land adjoining the Country Hospital of which Dr. Birt speaks has actually been bought. The home for nurses, when erected on it, would bear the name of the Queen Victoria Memorial and it would get back to the donors' original design, with the advantage of a large hospital adjoining, in which probationers could be trained. It may be added that the existing quarters for nurses in the Country Hospital are not altogether satisfactory: nurses and probationers have to mingle in a common sitting-room, which is not to the taste of either and is bad for discipline. And since the nurses' quarters in the has: pital will be needed for patients, one may hope that the Council will give orders to build the new home as early as possible, without awaiting the sale of the old. But one would emphasize the need of providing it with the endowment which ought to be fayallable from the sale of the fold V. N. H. as soon as may be and of establishing it on an independent footing, so that. there may be no danger of future generations denouncing it a white elephant.
Had. the Council been lest secretive, much trouble would have been saved and many mis-udo has me evitably excited suspicion and it has no one but itself to thank for misunderstandings that may have arisen, With the news of the definite intention to build a maternity hospital for the northern and eastern districts, the scheme suggested by Dr. Birt at once approves itself, and we gather that other doctors fully support the idea. As regards the new projected maternity home, every effort should be made to run this on really cheap lines. Existing charges are far too high. The fact that there is a bigger demand on the wards of the General Hospital than on its first-class rooms, while exactly the reverse is found at the Country Hospital, is a fair indication of the respective needs of residents in the two distri¢ts. There has been for many years an urgent demand for a maternity home in which cases are taken at two lor three taels a day; and for this the new building should be made to cater. With an adequate nursing! "home added to the Country Hospital it will be possible to bring the nursing service up to its proper strength once more, At present it is sadly, dangerously depleted. The training actually probationers, we believ every way satisfactory; and' while it is almost prohibitively expensive to continue to import nurses from England, it is also absurd to do so, when the training can be given locally and there is certainly no lack of girls in Shanghai who would readily take up the nursing profession. The discussion of the future of the V. N. H. has been long and in some ways distress ful, But without it we certain" ly should not have arrived the solution which now appears in sight,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.