HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

Press, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5361, 30 November 1882, Page 3

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

The usual ordinary meeting of the above Board was held yesterday at 4 p.m. Pre- J sent—Mr H. Thomson (chairman), the Mayor of Christchurch, the Mayor of h Sydenham, Dr. Turnbull, Hon. E. C. J. o; Stevens, .Dr. Prins, and Mr Montgomery, p The following correspondence was tl read:— G Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 14th Nov., ISB2. a Sir, —I have the honor, by direction of the Colonial Secretary, to request that you ._, will bring under the consideration of the _ Charitable Aid Board the desirability of devising a plan by which funds may be collected from the public for charitable purposes, to supplement the vote which the d bounty of Parliament has placed at the dis- t. posal of the Government. The sum placed t on the estimates for this service was only _ intended to defray half the expenditure, j and it becomes absolutely necessary that thepublic should contribute a considerable sum. This Mr Dick has no doubt the inha- , bitants of Christchurch would do as liberally J as those of some of the other cities in New c Zealand, if the matter were placed before a them in its proper light. Mr Dick, when t lately in Christchurch, met at your office Messrs Thomson, Ick, and Jameson, and c from what transpired then he is disposed to _. think that valuable assistance may be c looked for from the Benevolent Institution ■ in this direction. ;.,•'. Lhave, &c., . • . . (Signed) G. S. Cooper. * 3. E. March, Esq., Ac., Ac., Christchurch. Mr Montgomery said that this was a < most important letter, as it asked the < people of Christchurch to raise some 1 .£4OOO by some means. There were almost 1 daily calls made upon the people in the 1 cause of charity, and he thought it very i unlikely that they would contribute anything.: They must remember that the Board was simply an administrative body, ; and that they had informed the Govern- 3 ment to that effect. The Legislature had ■ not passed any Bill on the subject, and now < the Government came down and asked them to furnish the half of the total cost of charitable aid. The Board had no endow- ; menta, whilst in other cities they had. He thought it was out of the question to ask , the benevolently disposed persons to contribute £4000. Besides, he desired to point out that J870.000 had been put on the mam i and supplementary estimates. The Board was not appointed for the purpose of i raising money, but as an administrative ■ body, and, therefore, he contended that t they should not be asked to do this. The Mayor of Sydenham said that last ', year some Je2ooo had been deducted from 5 subsidies in Canterbury, and therefore he > contended that the Government did not t pufrthe matter fairly. When the abolition - of provinces took place, a quarter of a ) million of money passed into the colonial l chest from Canterbury, whilst in Otago i they had provided buildings and secured i endowments. Now, he thought that Can- - terbury ought to be placed in the same i position as the other cities by erecting ; suitable buddings and giving them endowt ments. Atpresent the Government placed i them in a very different position to any other part of the colony- ... c Hon. E. C. J. Stevens asked how it was, a if appropriation had been taken for only? s half the cost, they had gone on for twothirda of the year. Conld the cnau-nan if say how this was ? if The Cmairman was unable to give any a explanation; . a Dr; Prins said, that while agreeing with n Mr Montgomery in the main, he thought i, the whole subject should be discussed most it thoroughly. For that reason he would ■move—" That a sub-committee, consisting

of the chairman of the Hospital Board, Hon. E. C. J. Stevens, Dr. Prins, and Mr Hawkes be appointed to confer with the representatives of the City and Borongh Councils, and other local bodies interested, and to report fully on the subject." The whole of the bodies interested could • meet and then-draw up a report, to be forwarded to the Government. He thought that they had to face the whole question, and the way he proposed was tbe one to deal with the matter.

The Mayor of Christchurch thought the letter of the Colonial Secretary was unbusinesslike and unconstitutional. 'Twothirds of the year was gone, and now they were asked to provide .£4OOO. He thought that the Board was only appointed to administer charitable aid, and not to propose any scheme, which was the duty of the Legislature. The Mayor of Sydenham seconded the motion of Dr. Prins. He was quite sure that this was the proper way to deal with the matter. The committee would be able to report on the subject, and then the Board could submit the result of their labors to the' Government. Of course, as representing a large number of persons, it was their duty to see that there waa no poor rate. The Chairman said that so long as the Ch-Britable Aid was connected with the Government, so long would people demand it as their right, and thu3 increase the amount paid. The ministers also, finding that the money was found by the Government, had shunted their poor on to the Charitable Aid Board. With regard to the letter, he did not think the Government were asking them to do more than they had asked others to do. In nearly every other part of New Zealand the people were doing their share of benevolence. It was necessary, he thought, that there should be only one benevolent body here, as it was their money was lost. They were now supporting nine out of every ten of their poor, and the question arose whether they were to simply relieve or to support people, holding out under the last'named condition no incentive to support themselves. His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch said that his twelve months' experience had shown him that those relieved were a class which, under any system, would have to receive relief.

Hon. E. C. J. Steven's said he thought their answer to the letter should be that as they had to consult other local bodies, their decision could not be in time for the financial year. They could not devise any scheme which between now and March would have any appreciable effect. It was certainly no function of the Board to devise'any scheme of dealing with hospitals and charitable aid, and he would desire to point out also that the Legislature had been unable to agree upon any line of policy, though debated time after tima, the diversity of opinion being so great. Ho would move—" That the letter of the Colonial Secretary be replied to, stating that the Board would cheerfully do its best to ascertain what can be effected in the direction proposed, but that the Board cannot hold out the slightest, expectations that its investigations can lead to any appreciable relief to the burdens of hospitals and charitable aid during the coming financial year." The Mayor of Sydenham seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Mr Montgomery said that his opinion wa3 that property should pay the cost of charity, and that, in fact, the needy in their community should have a right to claim assistance, which should be rendered.

The motion of Mr. Prins was then put and carried. ,

' The Secretary stated that in the New Zealand "Gazette," of November 16th, the following appointment was notified, namely, 3-eorge Wallington Grabham, Esq., M.D., Univ. Lond., Mem. R. jCoIL Phys., Mem. R. Coll. Surg. Eng., L.M.R. Coll. Surg., Eng., Lie. Soc. Apoth.', to be inspector of hospitals in the colony of New Zealand; appointment to date from, the 7th November, 1882. A letter, was read from Mr J. P. Oliver,. stating that he had submitted samples of .New3Sealandwines for hospital'am■■.tojtha resident surgeon ands house -stevrard/'ahd asking that the Board would give them a trial in the hospital. He further mentioned that the medical gentlemen who had tested the wines spoke very highly of them.

It>as resolved to refer the letter to the hospital staff. The following letter from the Colonial Secretary's office, and dated November 21st, was read £—-

Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, New Zealand, 21st Nov., 1882. - Sir,—l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the number and date quoted in the margin, as to the necessity for painting and repairing the Orphanage building, and in reply am directed by. the Colonial Secretary to express his regret that the Government have no funds at their disposal for this work. I have, &c,

G. S. Cooper, J. E. March, Esq., &c, &c, Christchurch,

The Secretary stated that an application had been made for the Government Clerk of Works to inspect the buildings and report upon what was necessary to be done to the buildings. A report was sent in to the Government on the matter.

The matter was referred to the Orphanage committee. The report of the Hospital committee was read as follows:— " The Hospital committee reported that during .the fortnight ending November 25th eighteen patients were admitted into the Hospital and twenty discharged, leaving sixty-nine patients in the institution. No deaths occurred during that period. For the corresponding period last year the number of patients in the Hospital was sixty-seven. The Chairman stated that at the next | meeting they would have to elect their Hospital medical staff and a medical officer to the charitable aid department, and also to receive tenders for supplies for the year. * On the motion of the Mayor of Christchurch, it was resolved —" That the usual notices be inserted in the local papers re-? questing applications for the Hospital staff and for a medical officer to the charitable aid department, for the year ending 31st December, 1883." It was also decided that tenders be called for supplies to the hospitals and charitable institutions under the control of the Board for the year ending 31st December, ISB3, and that the respective committees be requested to recommend tenders for acceptance at the next meeting. The following report was read :—

Christchurch, November 25th, 1882. Sir, —I have the honor to report that I inspected the Hospital .at Akaroa on Thursday last. The buildings are in very fair order, a few slight repaira to the plaster in the wards is necessary, the corrugated iron roof over the verandah requires painting, as well as the fence round the building. The total expenditure will not exceed JEIS. At present Bix patients are in the wards, and on the Tuesday previous to my visit a case of typhoid fever was sent from Pigeon Bay. This case could not be admitted into the wards, the patient was therefore placed in one of the compartments of, the Immigration Depot, and is being kept entirely isolated. I thought it necessary to make some enquiries respecting this case, and obtained the following information from the medical officer and from the brother of the patient. Wflhehn Ereckson, aged twenty-five, a native of Finland, arrived at Port Chalmers from London in the ship Taranaki on the 14th inst. The ship had forty-one passengers, bnt carried no surgeon." Ereckson states hfe was ill on arrival; he came to Christchurch on the 17th inst., where his brother met him, and seeing he was ill, he consulted a medical man, who prescribed for him. Ereckson and his brother stayed at one of the hotels in Christchnrch till the following Monday, the 20th instant, when they proceeded to Pigeon Bay, where the brother resides ; on arrival there, Dr. Guthrie was consulted, and he at once pronounced the case to be one of typhoid fever, and gave an order for his admission to the Hospital. In the "Otago Dairy Times" of November 15th,the arrival of the shio Taranaki is reported. I give the following extract from the report = —" The clipper ship Taranaki arrived off Otago, Heads on the right of November lStti, and, was towed into Port Chalmers on the following morning by the S3. Plucky, anchoring in Mansford's Bay at 8.15 aan- She was met in the lower harbor by the Omstesns officials, and all being reported well, was at once cleared in." The medical officer at the Hospital, Akaroa, assures mc that when.

he _rstsWEreV&sdn on November 21st, he had then been under the influence of fever for at least ten days. My reason for bringing this case before the Board is to show the necessity of a medical officer inspecting all passenger ships on arrival, and this is more especially requisite when foreigners are on board. I find that Mrs Smart, the matron at the Hospital, in addition to the cooking and nursing, has also very frequently to wash forthe patients; her husband is quite able to do any necessary repairs required to the buildings, and also any painting. In consideration of their performing' these duties —which they are willing to do—l beg to recommend that tfifey receive at the rate of JEIOO per ftiriimJ. E. Mabch. On the motion of Hon. E. C. J. Stevens the portion of the letter referring to EreckbobSb case was directed to be forwarded to tn&Government drawing their attention to th&=same.

It was decided to recommend the Government to increase the salary as suggested. The report of the master of the Orphanage was read, reporting that there were now eighty-five inmates in the institution, two having left for service. The master further ! intimated that it was customary to give the children a treat at Christmas, and asked the decision of the Board on the matter. Application was also made for a sewing machine, a knitting machine, and twd«utting out tables. "TjieTeport was adopted. j|||etterwas read from Miss M. Kissel, resigning her position as resident governess at 3|e Orphanage, which was accepted, the Board resolving to grant her a certificatejjhiß to diligence, zeal, &c., whilst hohjjig the position at the Orphanage. It wawalso resolved that the salary of the mancer of the boys' school be restored to its uamjl rate. Tie report of the Ashburton Home was brought up and read. {Tie Board then adjourned.