The New British Sanitarium
By Alfred B. Olsen
At noon on the 5th of March, the purchase of the Surrey Hills Hydropathic Institution of Caterham, Surrey, was completed in the solicitor's office, Gray's Inn, London. When the contract to buy the place was entered into two months ago, ten per cent of the purchase price, or £300, was paid in cash. The exact price of the property was £3,030, so that in completing the purchase on Thursday £2,730 was paid in cash. To the cost of the property must be added the government stamp tax, solicitors' fees, and various minor expenses, which will probably amount to about fifty or sixty pounds. The purchase was a cash one, and the new medical institution has now been secured free of any burden of debt. It may be of interest to the readers of the REVIEW to have a brief history of the transaction, and the raising of the money here in Great Britain. We first learned of the Surrey Hills Hydropathic Institution about the middle of last November, and immediately went to visit the place. It was then being run more as a hotel and boarding house than as a health institution, and there were about nine guests, besides the owner, and a corps of helpers. The writer was very favorably impressed with the building and its equipment, and also with the location, and presented a report to the British Union Conference Committee at their meeting the latter part of November. The committee took steps at once to visit the place, and their report was unanimously in favor of procuring it, provided this could be done without incurring any debt; but at that time it seemed impossible to raise the money in such a short time, and consequently no steps were taken to secure the place. At that time the property was offered to us for £2,800 net, and we felt assured that it could be had for even less money than that; but being handicapped for means, we were not able to take the necessary steps to secure the place on such favorable terms. Early in December we sent quite a full description of the property to the president of the General Conference and the president of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, as well as to others; but before there was an opportunity for reply, we received notice that another offer had been received, and that we must decide at once if we intended to secure the establishment. We visited the owner, and learned that in order to secure the place, we should have to pay £3,000, but we felt confident that even at that price it was a bargain. We also obtained “another day's delay, and at once sent the following cable message to the president of the General Conference: “Must decide Caterham purchase tomorrow; sixty days for payment. Answer to-day.” The answer was registered in London within nine hours after the message was sent, and read as follows: “We can furnish you £2,000 by the end of next month.” This was more favorable than we had dared to hope, and filled us with new courage. A meeting of the British Union Conference Committee was at once called, and the matter laid before them. The members present unanimously voted to take active measures at once to raise our share of the purchase price, £1,000, and to secure the property at once. This we did, and the same day went on to Nottingham to attend the annual meeting of the North England Conference. We laid the matter before the members of the conference committee and the leading workers there, and they decided unanimously and heartily to raise their proportion of the £1,000 and guaranteed that it should be paid over on behalf of the sanitarium by the first of March. The conference committee undertook to be responsible for the full amount, even though it might not be possible to secure it all from the people during the limited time required, but they hoped to have the entire amount pledged, and they were willing to go security for the pledges, and advance money on them. This was splendid support, and a few days later a meeting of the British Union Conference Committee was held in London, and after deducting £100, which one brother had offered to donate to the sanitarium, the remaining £900 of the thousand were distributed as follows over the various conferences and mission fields of Great Britain: the South England Conference, £520; the North England Conference, £300; the Scottish Mission field, £45; the Welsh Mission field, £40. Ireland was left out because she had already contributed liberally for the Belfast Sanitarium, which was opened early in January. The sums mentioned represent an average of exactly a pound apiece for every Sabbath-keeper in the land. There were a total of nine hundred and five Sabbath-keepers in these conferences and mission fields at the time of the Leeds meeting, and the distribution was made on this basis, which was thought to be the most fair and satisfactory arrangement that could be made. The South England Conference took the same action as the North England Conference, and guaranteed to produce their quota by the first of March. The Scottish Mission field and the Welsh Mission field followed, and all at once began active measures for the raising of the money. The various laborers were sent to the different churches to lay this important enterprise before the people, and we are glad to say that one and all took hold of the work of raising the money heartily and vigorously. Many were the expressions of good cheer and earnest faith that came from the different companies and churches in the field. It seemed to give new zeal to the churches and to Sabbath-keepers generally, and was the means of stirring up missionary effort such as we have never seen in the past. Here was a definite proposition laid before the people, and they laid hold of it with such united zeal that it could not fail to prove a blessing to all. The people gave liberally, and the offerings began to flow in at once. The little company at Catford, London, was the first, if we are not mistaken, to pay up its proportion, amounting to £13; then followed Plymouth, with £31; and then Westbourne Park, with £12; and Leytonstone, with £50. Space forbids mentioning the other churches and companies. It may not sound like very much to speak of pounds, but we wish our American friends to consider that each pound means five dollars, and five dollars is a large amount to raise from every Sabbath-keeper in the land. We have not yet the full data and statistics from which to make comparison, but we believe that a considerable number of the people will average a pound each. Of course there were many who would find it impossible to give such a large donation; yet we remember one earnest sister, a widow, who promised in faith to raise a pound for the sanitarium. She said that she had no means that she knew of with which to obtain the pound, but in two weeks' time she came and paid it, with a smile of joy on her face, making the statement that it came “directly from the Lord in answer to prayer.” Space forbids going into the interesting details connected with the raising of $5,000 among the Sabbath-keepers of Great Britain; but we are glad to state that this has been accomplished, and the total amount raised will exceed a thousand pounds instead of being less. For this success, and for the manifold blessings that God has rained upon us during this effort, we give the praise and glory to our Heavenly Father. It seemed impossible at first, yet with God's blessing it has been accomplished, and we now have the institution in our hands without a penny of debt. On moving into the institution we found everything in good order. We had an inventory made immediately after contracting to buy the place, and this was carefully compared with the equipment when we took possession of the house last week. The beauty of the Caterham Valley and the surrounding hills is beyond description. Caterham is at the top of the valley, and adjoins Godstone on the east. The old Roman road from Sussex passes through the parish. It has doubtless been the scene of war at some time, as evidenced by a fortified ground with the Cardinal's Hat on the top of White Hill. Near at hand is a place called the War Coppice, where entrenchments still exist. The camp has been ascribed by popular tradition to the Danes. Even at the time of the Domesday survey, Caterham had a church. There is much beautiful20country scenery, and besides its beauty there is much of historic interest. Caterham has long had a reputation as a “land of beauty.” We extract the following few lines from a booklet describing Caterham and the surrounding district:— “Many people roam half round the world, without even making themselves acquainted with the beauties of the country in which they live. Many, too, who have traveled through romantic foreign lands lament on their return home the fate which condemns them to reside the chief portion of the year in an unpicturesque neighborhood. Do our readers who have recently returned from foreign tours know the beauties of Caterham? Do these wealthy lovers of delightful scenery, whose duties compel them to regretfully reside in one of the ugly and dull suburbs of London, know that there is within their easy reach a land of beauty? We fancy that there are many merchant princes in London who would be surprised to hear that even when November fogs are choking the great city and its suburbs, there are green slopes only sixteen miles away, on which the sun is shining gloriously, and where the taint of London mist and smoke never once intrudes from year to year. This place is Caterham. Three quarters of an hour's ride by the South-eastern Railway Company's carriages conveys the traveler from London Bridge to what is appropriately designated bright, beautiful, health-giving Caterham. Some of the charms of this delightful locality begin at Purley Junction. They are more conspicuous at Riddlesdown, Kenley, and Warlingham, but their perfection culminates in the cluster of ambrosial hills around Caterham and Harestone Valley. . . .” “Caterham Valley is four hundred and fifty feet above sea level, and the hills around rise to six hundred feet and eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. ‘There are,’ says a contemporary, ‘plenty of reasons in air, earth, and water, why Caterham will increasingly become a place of resort. The climate is most pure and vigorous. To sniff the air on emerging from the railway carriage is to receive a new sensation. We can testify to its restorative virtues in the case of those whose powers of body and mind are wont to get considerably jaded. To roam over these hills is a wonderful cure for overheated brains, and a delightful relaxation to the overwrought energies. The salubrity of the climate is evident from the extremely low rate of mortality. The soil is chalky, insuring great dryness, as well as other sanitary advantages. The water is reputed to be the finest in England. Take it altogether, we know of no place within so easy a distance of London at all to be compared with these Caterham hills, whose silence is disturbed only by the singing of the birds, including the cuckoo's note and the nightingale's song. There are nothing worth calling hills nearer to the metropolis. There are no such extensive views before you reach it. Our observation warrants the remark that those who visit the neighborhood are delighted with it, and that those who go to live there like it more and more. Beyond Caterham the walks and drives are most lovely.’” Perhaps it might not be out of place to say just a word about the medical equipment of the new sanitarium. As already explained, the building is well furnished, and in a good state of repair generally, although some alterations and a few repairs will be necessary. We have good bath rooms, but when it comes to medical apparatus and medical appliances of various kinds, we have none at all. There is no equipment for a medical office, no equipment for a laboratory, which is so essential in a sanitarium, no equipment for a gymnasium, no surgical instruments whatever, and no equipment in the bath rooms with the exception of two bath tubs and two marble slabs. The floors are very substantial, and beautifully laid in mosaic stone. The walls are of tiled brick, and the rooms can scarcely be improved upon, but they are practically empty. We must have an electric light bath, and other baths. We must have massage tables, and treatment tables, towels, sheets, dressing rooms, fomentation boiler, spray apparatus, and many other appliances too numerous to mention. We are planning to go ahead here in England to raise money for this needed equipment, and we hope that our American friends will again come to our assistance, and take an interest in this matter, as they have so liberally done in the purchase of the property. Several days before the completion of the purchase we received a draft for £2,050 from America as a donation from the American brethren. We thank them for their generous contribution, and for the hearty support they have given us in the advance step we are taking. We appreciate their liberality, and their self-sacrifice. May God bless them all, and reward them for their self-denial and generosity. Sometime in the future we will send another report telling of the opening of the institution, and of the dedicatory services. ALFRED B. OLSEN.