To those outside the precincts of the Hospital walls the good work done by this choir is very little known. It is a pleasure for an outsider to accompany this choir in its rounds from one ward to another and listen to such sweet music, and what must it be to the patients!
For two-and-a-half hours these ladies, on Sunday evening, sang in every ward. While the choir was singing such hymns as ‘‘O God of Bethel'', and ‘‘Lead, Kindly Light'', several of the patients could not refrain from taking part.
At the conclusion of the service, Dr Falconer expressed his gratitude to the choir for its visit on Sunday evening, and also for similar services rendered fortnightly throughout the past year.
He assured Miss Dunlop and her choir that their singing was very much appreciated, both by the patients and by the Hospital staff.
The chaplain (Mr Cumming) also expressed his indebtedness to the choir for the kindness and self-denial they had shown towards the inmates of the Hospital during the past year, and said he hoped that the choir would be ready to continue its good work at the beginning of the new year.
■ Mr W. H. Field, M.P., has been interesting himself in the leakage of gold coins from the country (says the Wellington Post). In a letter received from a well known business man, Mr Field is informed that the Chinese do not get the money from the banks.
They purchase it from outsiders, paying a premium of 1s to 1s 6d in the pound.‘‘I venture to say (writes Mr Field's informant) that every Chinaman who leaves this dominion to return to China, takes from 100 to 200 sovereigns with him, and I maintain that this gold goes into the hands of the enemies of the British Empire.
If these facts were brought before the present Minister of Finance, and were by him brought under the notice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, action would be taken to stop this traffic by Chinamen in British gold.''
Mr Field brought the matter under the notice of the Minister of Finance, and has been asked by him to obtain particulars of any cases where it is suspected that Chinese have been accumulating and exporting sovereigns.
The Government has already taken measures to prevent export of gold coins by Chinese, and if there are still cases where it is suspected that the law is being evaded, the proper preventive steps will be taken.
■ What perhaps constitutes record time for the Oamaru-Arrowtown trip via Dansey's Pass was registered by Mr W. H. Paterson, of Oamaru, on Monday (says the North Otago Times).
Mr Paterson's car left Oamaru at 5 a.m., and arrived at Arrowtown shortly after 1 o'clock, the run including a 50 minutes stop at Naseby.
The distance is estimated to be, roughly, 189 miles. The road is said to be in better order than it has been for some time.
- ODT, 28.12.1915.
