REDUCED LEVIES WANTED.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20828, 11 April 1933, Page 16

REDUCED LEVIES WANTED.

SOUTH CANTERBURY HOSPITALS. REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS ECONOMIES. (BPJ.CIAI. TO THE PKESS.) TIMARU, April 10. Representatives of local bodies contributing to the South Canterbury Hospital Board conferred again to-day on means of effecting savings in hospital maintenance costs in the district, and considered the demands of the Mackenzie and Levels County Councils for a reduction of 25 per cent, in the current year's levies. Mr E. Macdonald presided. A comprehensive report was tabled by the board, showing that a reduction of 25 per cent, in the levies represented £4154, which could not be made unless there was a corresponding reduction in subsidies, which would involve the board in reducing the net maintenance expenditure by £7500. Referring to suggested economies, the report stated that, apart from the legal bar to the closing of the Waimate Hospital, a new building, costing £20,000, would be required for women and children, at the overtaxed Timaru institution to meet the influx, if Waimate Hospital were closed. It would still be necessary to provide an emergency hospital at Waimate, and an adequate ambulance service between Timaru and Waimate, which would considerably reduce the apparent saving of £1769. By leasing the Fairlie, Geraldine, and Temuka Maternity Hospitals, the saving would be £391, and by arranging for maternity cases to be taken in by nursing homes at a minimum fee, the saving would be £722. The cost of the Old Peoples' Home and the Waipiata Sanatorium were very low, and it would be practically impossible to effect further economies. The administration costs represented 46 per cent, of the gross expenditure last year. No Staff Accommodation. It was stated that there was no accommodation available at the hospital for administration offices. The adoption of a system of honorary staffing would result in a saving of £630 annually in salaries. The introduction of a system of paying wards would involve a capital outlay in providing the accommodation required, before it could operate. The position was that while the increasing numbers of patients requiring admission to the board's institutions was small, a reduction in expenditure could be made, but factors beyond the control of the board made an increased demand on local contributing authorities unavoidable this year. Burden on Ratepayers. Delegates generally agreed that the board was unable to make reductions in the levies. Mr C. J. Talbot said that the Hospital Boards Act wanted, looking into, to see if the burden it imposed on ratepayers could not be alleviated. He expressed the view that the system of levies was inequitable, and that the contributions should be half on population and half on capital values. A proposal that the board be asked to contribute £ISOO out of the levies received from the local bodies this year to the Central Relief Society, to enable the organisation to carry out the relief of distress during the winter was strongly opposed by country delegates. Mr G. Benstead said that the Borough Council intended to vote £750 out of authorised expenditure to the society, provided the Government would validate the grant, as the council had no power to vote money or to levy rates for that purpose. The sum would be subsidised by the government. It was also proposed to ask the board to find £ISOO out of levies on local bodies, which would mean increasing demands this year. Mr G. Dash said that the board had not provided for any such grant in its estimates. Practically all the country representatives opposed the proposal, and the chairman said that the board would weigh the arguments in deciding its future course.