Church, Port Chalmers, was the first Protestant chaplain to the Gaol, and he was succeeded by Mr J. A. Torrance, who has held the position for over twenty-one years. The Rev. Mr Ronaldson also visits on behalf of Church of England inmates. For many years also good old Father Moreau, who is held in respectful remembrance by all who knew him, discharged the duties of Roman Catholic chaplain, and when he retired, the work was taken up by reverend gentlemen connected with the Roman Catholic Church in Dunedin.
THE HOSPITAL.
Though Dunedin Hospital ranks first in importance and usefulness among the city and provincial philanthropic institutions, and while the number of persons who have passed through its wards and received the benefits it confers exceeds by far the many who have been connected with all the other institutions put together, yet little can be said of it, and its story is soon told.
The principles on which the Otago settlement was founded were a guarantee that the sick poor within the bounds of the Province would not be neglected. At first, when the settlers were few, and when there was no migratory population, there were none who could in the general acceptation of the term be designated "the sick poor." Nevertheless, ere the Province was two years old, steps were taken towards the establishment of a hospital. But the action was premature. Possibly those who initiated the movement deemed it wise to make provision for any emergency of the nature of an epidemic. At least one immigrant ship, the "Moultan," was ravaged on the way out by the fearful scourge of cholera; and although in such cases the vessels and passengers were kept in quarantine until all traces of the disease had disappeared, some general accommodation for convalescents might be required. But whatever were the circumstances that prompted the authorities, in 1850 the subject was formally brought under the notice of Governor Sir George Grey, while he was on a visit to the young settlement, and he granted the sum of £250 out of the Otago Customs duties for the erection of a small hospital in Dunedin. As already remarked, the institution, so far as actual need was concerned, was in advance of the times, for more than two years passed before any physically sick patients occupied its
