"CANNOT GO FURTHER."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 127, 1 June 1931, Page 8

"CANNOT GO FURTHER."

HOSPITAL ECONOMIES. BOABD AND DEPARTMENT. HINT OF INCREASED LEVY. A position of stalemate has arisen between the Auckland Hospital Board and the Department of Health concernin" maintenance expenditure tor the cm-rent year. In a statement this mornin" Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the botrd, declared that the board could not possiblv keep within the estimates forced on it by the Government, and hinted that the position would have to be met by an increased levy from the contributing local bodies. Mr. Wallace stated that the board m its original estimates had set down expenditure for the year at £222,550, but under pressure from the Department the figure was reduced to £185,415. Now the board had received further advice from the Director-General of Health, Dr. M. H. Watt, that it would be impossible for him to recommend approval of the board's estimates unless the net estimated maintenance expenditure was reduced to £178,767. That, commented Mr. Wallace, was within £0000 of the amount below which the board's finance committee refused to reduce further.

"We know that the estimates we have submitted are not those of the board, but the estimates the Government has forced upon us, and we will not be able to keep within them by the end of the year," added Mr. Wallace. "The Finance Act of last session empowered'the Government to reduce our subsidy by 10 per cent. We have, however, to do with £44,000 less than was required last year, whereas we expected the amount to be reduced by only £12,000. To comply with this, we will have to refuse patients admission to the hospital and to the infirmary as well. The board will be embarrassed financially,' and the only way it can retrieve the position is ; by increasing the levy from the local bodies for next year." • Mr. Wallace mentioned that expendi ture last year on outdoor relief (including unemployment), sanatoria and dispensary services amounted to £66,146, while the allowance for the current year was £48,500, representing a "forced reduction" of £17,646 on those services alone. Under the circumstances, it was impossible to maintain the same standard of service. "The responsibility for this position," added Mr. Wallace, "must.be taken bv the Government, as the estimates are not those the board would have framed under ordinary conditions. Our reply to the latest communication from the Director-General is that we cannot reduce the estimates further and that to comply with h"s demand would be to forward estimates that are not those of the board but those forced on it by the Government." The Department's request for a 10 per cent all-round wage reduction had not been complied with by the board, said Mr. Wallace, but the Department was still exerting pressure to have that reduction put into effect. The attitude of the finance committee was that it would, not recommend the board to alter its estimates still further.