The Press SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1954. Cashmere Hospital Heating

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27374, 12 June 1954, Page 6

The Press SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1954. Cashmere Hospital Heating

The decision on the heating of the new Cashmere Hospital, announced yesterday by the Minister of Health, is a reasonable compromise—if it is

J conceded that this dispute should have arisen, especially at such an I advanced stage of the hospital •planning. The Mines Department will be happy to have an extended 'market for its surplus coal; the ; Railways Department will be grate[ful for the extra freight; the Christchurch Gas Company will welcome a new and substantial customer; the I householders of Cashmere, Sprey>don, and Halswell will breathe more easily (metaphorically now and ; literally when the hospital is iopened); the Depaitmefii oa Health will be relieved to avoid the extra ! cost of all-electric operation and ; even more relieved not to have set a precedent for future all-electric hospitals. The North Canterbury Hospital Board, which has beer, humbugged for too long by government departments which could not make up their minds about policy in reasonable time, can be thankful for small mercies; it will not have the convenience of electric heating, but it will not have the inconvenience of a coal-fired power plant. All things considered, the compromise has much to recommend it: the coalmining, railway, and gas industries will all be materially helped. But the “ national “ policy ” to which it gives expression should have been determined very much earlier. It would be interesting to know how much of the first year’s operational saving of £16,393 (the difference between the annual charges for gas and coal heating of the hospital) has been wasted in correspondence, conferences, calls on the time of Ministers, departmental officials, and board members and officers, investigations by experts, changes ih completed hospital plans, and delay in the completion of the hospital.