THE BELGIAN FIELD HOSPITAL.
[To TER EDITOR OF DUD " SPECTATOR."3 SIR,—Many appeals are before the public and many are the calls on their charity. and sympathy, but no appeal can be more eloquent and urgent than that of the Belgian Field Hospital which was started in England in August„1914, and left for the front more than a year ago. It WELS established at Antwerp by the orders of the Queen of the Belgians, and remained there until the day before the entry of the Germans. It was made the first base hospital for the British wounded of the Naval Brigade, and all the staff and wounded were safely removed in motor-omnibuses to Ghent, Bruges, and Ostend, and thence to England. About the middle of October the hospital again went out and was ordered to continue its work at Fumes. It remained there until about the end of January, 1915, when it was forced to evacuate owing to persistent bombardment, and took up its quarters at Hoog- staede, about half-way between Ypres and Fumes, where it still is. The position of the hospital, about five miles from the trenches, is of the utmost importance, as it combines the advantages of a field hospital with those of an advanced base hospital. The hospital is housed in buildings, and has the appliances, instruments, &o., for the most complicated opera- tions. Only the seriously wounded are taken in, and it is owing to the efficiency of the staff and the hospital being so close to the firing line that many lives are saved which would inevitably be lost but for the prompt attention thus rendered. Three thousand cases have already been treated. The British, Belgian, and French authorities have expressed their admire- tion for the work, the King and Queen of the Belgians take the greatest interest in and visit the hospital, and 0-6nexal Melia, Inapecteur-Gen6ral du Service de Santa de l'Armee Beige, has testified to the great value of the services rendered to the Belgian Army, stating that we must remain at Hoog- staede until an advance occurs, when we must accompany the Belgian Army. I may add that all the nurses are British and fully trained. I. shall be obliged if you will kindly publish this letter, for 1 am satisfied that many of your readers will gladly support this effort to save the lives and ease the first sufferings of perhaps their nearest and dearest, and only need to be informed of the means thus afforded.—I am, Sir, &o., W. S. BAILLIE HAMILTON, Secretary.
21 Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, S.W.
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