THE HOSPITAL COMMISSION'S REPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 172, 21 July 1903, Page 3

THE HOSPITAL COMMISSION'S REPORT.

HOSPITAL BOARD TAKE NO ACTION.

At tl j meeting of the Hospital Board yesterday a letter was received from the Town fjlerk of the City enclosing minutes of the Local Bodies' Conference held in May, at which the Commission of Inquiry into the management of the Auckland Hospital was appointed. The Chairman (Mr G. J. Garland) submitted a report of what had taken place at the meeting of the local bodies' representatives on Friday last. He said he had stated that, as he had only then just officially received a copy of the report of the Commission, he could not at that stage make any reply to the statements in the report. He requested the meeting to supply him with a copy of the evidence taken before the Commission, and of the deliberations of the Commission at the meetings from which the press was excluded. He considered that the Board could not form any rep]- to the report until they received i /iat they asked for, and if the Board took his advice they would sit tight and say nothing and do their duty. Ho had asserted previously that there wa/i not one penny of the money spent by -the Board which had not been lightly spent; and he said this again. The Board had their duty to perform, and he, for one, was going to carry out the duties of his office untiil his term was up.

Mr Friend said he wished to move the following motion: "That the Board de eline to make any comment or in any way to reply to the report of the Commission set up by the local bodies until it receives from the local bodies all the typewritten evidence taken before the Commission, and all minutes, individual reports, records, and documents on which the Commission founded the report placed before the local bodies at the meeting on July 17th inst." He said that the report of the Commission had gone forth to the colony, and therefore it might be advisable to pass such a resolution as he had suggested. The Chairman said that when they made their reply that could go forth to the colony. Mr Friend: "Yes, but the one wno has the first say generally has .the whiphand."

Mr A. Bruce said the Board had received nothing officially in connection with the report of the Commission, and therefore there was nothing before the meeting. Mr McLeod moved 'that the Chairman's report be received, and that he be thanked for it. He (Mr McLeod) thought that Friday's meeting was one of the most extraordinary that he had ever attended. With regard to a certain clause in the Commission's report, he had asked a member of the Cominis sion what evidence the Commission had to guide them in drawing up this clause, and this member replied, "No evidence at all."

The Chairman: "That was just why we wanted the evidence."

The Chairman said there was no occasion for the resolution suggested by Mr Friend, as the Board had not yet received the report of the Commission. Mr Friend's motion was out of order. Mr McLeod's motion was then carried and the discussion ended.