LIEDERTAFEL ELECTS OFFICERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27098, 22 July 1953, Page 10

LIEDERTAFEL ELECTS OFFICERS

The following officers were elected at the annual meeting of the Christchurch Liedertafel:—

President, Mr P. A. Caithness;, vicepresidents, Messrs L. L. Cordery, Robert Allison, and W. G. Tonks; committee, Messrs A. Robson, David Law, John Norman. J. Wilson, Claude Burrows; conductor, Mr Keith Newson;, honorary deputy conductor, Mr F. Shields; honorary accompanist, Mr O. Houison; honorary auditor, Mr P. B. Hume; secretary-treasurer, Mr H. H. Tribe; trustees, Messrs P. B. Hume and L. N. Fleming. pital would make a rebate to the patient of at least the present hospital benefit of 9s a day. The St. George’s Hospital paid £BOO a year in rates, and of that about £lOO was paid to the North Canterbury Hospital Board. Private hospitals not only relieved the burden on the purse, but actually helped to pay for the public hospitals. Mr Robilliard said that in the last three years more than £3OOO had been received in legacies, but that could not be used for expansion or capital expenditure. They had had to reduce their bank overdraft. A great difficulty was holidays, said Dr. Averill. People kept out of hospital before Easter, and in effect a week’s income was lost. Mr Barrowclough: Does that apply to Grand National week too? Dr. Averill: Yes. Coronation week was another example. Any month in which there is a holiday is a bad one financially. To Mr Barrowclough, Mr Robilliard said that last year only half the amount had been spent on maintenance that had been spent the previous year. To Mr Barrowclough, Dr. Averill said that it seemed that except for obstetric and convalescent cases, there was no place now for the woman who devoted her life to running a private hospital. “Twenty years ago it was common to remove a child’s tonsils on the kitchen table,” Dr. Averill said. “Now, if some mishap occurred in such conditions, it would almost amount to malpractice, for taking unjustifiable risks without adequate equipment.” The Limes For The Limes Hospital, Ltd., it was stated that the hospital had been in existence for more than 50 years. In 1947 a small company of 14 specialists was formed to keep it in existence. With an average bed occupancy of nearly 14 the hospital was an efficient and valuable unit in the hospital system. Maintenance of equipment, furniture and the leased premises was increasingly hard to meet. To. relieve the burden on the public hospital system, private hospitals should continue to exist. The shareholders of The Limes considered that a modest return of 5 per cent, on capital invested was only reasonable, and the Health Department, in calculating the subsidy, had recognised that. One dividend of 5 per cent, had been paid to shareholders in the last six years.