T.B. SHELTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 185, 8 August 1927, Page 10

T.B. SHELTERS.

COST OF REMOVAL.

SUBSIDY OF £250 OFFERED

"ABSURD," SAYS MR. WALLACE.

The "Government has decided to pay a £ for £ subsidy up to £250 on contributions made toward the cost of removing and re-erecting the T.B. shelters in the Auckland Domain.

Mr. J. S. Dickson, M.P. and Mr. E. Phelan, representing the various bodies Interested, waited on the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Defence in Wellington and explained the position. They salid the new site had been approved by all parties. The cost of the shift would be anvwhere between £200 and £500.

On receiving news of the Government's offer, Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, termed it "absurd." The Government should pay the whole cost of removal and not place any of it upon the local authorities, especially as a number of the patients came from outside the Auckland Hospital distri*et. A subsidy of £250 would go only a little way to meet the cost, which would probably be £1000 when everything was done.

Mr. Wallace said he considered that a clear duty rested on the Government to have proper shelters erected on whatever site was chosen. The men were just as much entitled to proper care and treatment at the Government's expense as were the inmates of the Evelyn Firth Home, but they were not receiving the •same consideration.

He regarded the proposed subsidy as quite inadequate. However, the Hospital Board would take no action about the proposed site until the City Council agreed to grant the use of it. If it did agree the board would cons-hU-r the position.