MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1939. UPKEEP OF HOSPITALS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1939, Page 8

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1939. UPKEEP OF HOSPITALS.

Auckland's need of a hospital building scheme cannot be seriously challenged. The question at issue is how much the community can afford to spend upon it. It is now three years since the building committee of the hospital's honorary staff reported that the present buildings " cannot be modernised, and so reach maximum efficiency, without radical scrapping and rebuilding." Later in the same year, l!>:i6, a scheme for rebuilding on modern lines was submitted by an Australian firm of architects. The estimated cost. was £750,000. The board made no decision, but dallied with a modified scheme, estimated to cost £400,000. Time passed, until, under a new chairman, Mr. Allan J. Moody, the board decided that there should be no further delay. But it is, unfortunately, apparent that there is to be further delay, for the financial practicability of the scheme sponsored by Mr. Moody has been challenged by the Mayor, Sir Ernest Davis, supported bv some of the other local bodies.

It should be clearly understood that it is essentially a long-range scheme which is now proposed, and that it is much more comprehensive than any previously put forward. Mr. Moody mentioned that a sum of .C 1,.V>0,000 would be required. Jl the board proposed to set out to spend such a Mini in even a short period of years it could expect, and would deserve, decisive opposition, hut there is no suggestion that it proposes to do so. Its purpose, in which it is fully justified, is to make a start with a long-term scheme, to do all that it can to

" .-tart right," and at all events to start. So far it is on firm ground. But, although its impatience can be understood, it appears to be insufficiently appreciative of the fact that, although it may spend, it does not have to pay. All local bodies are acutely aware of the fact that the Hospital Hoard's maintenance levies have been continually and heavily increased in recent years. They want to know when the increases are going to stop. The board mny justifiably reply that it is not to be blamed for the increases, and that it has responsibilities which it cannot escape. It passes on increased costs to the local bodies, Avhich also pass them on, but there is someone who stands at the end of the line—the ratepayer.

The problem is not peculiar to Auckland or to the cities*; it is Doininion-wide. Some important elements in it are obscured by the uncertainty regarding the effects of the Social Security Act. A case could be made out for making the entire cost of the hospital system a charge on the Social Security Fund, but the Government is not disposed to agree to that. The Government, however, must recognise that dissatisfaction with the existing system of hospital financing is not a passing phase; it has become deep and wide. The Mayor has suggested a Royal Commission to advise a method of readjustment in the Auckland area, but such a readjustment would not dispose of the root problem. A wider order of reference is needed for an inquiry which, though it should be thorough, need not be prolonged. The hospital boards might well support the request for an inquiry.