PUBLIC SPIRIT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 581, 9 August 1909, Page 4

PUBLIC SPIRIT.

CHRONIC WARD AND NC'HSES , HOME. GENEROUS GIFTS'BY. HAWKE'S BAY , RESIDENTS. SPEECH BY HON. G, FOWLDS. (By Tclcßrap'j-Spcolal Correspondent.) Hapior, August 8. The Williams Chronic Ward and the new '' Nurses' Home, opened here on Saturday by the Hon. U. Fowlds, mark a pleasing feature in the public spirit of Hawke's Bay, ■ Tho' two handsome buildings havo been erected by the Hospital Trustees at a cost of £12,000, the whole of the' money having been raised by voluntary contribution, with , tho aid of Government subsidies, but no 3pacial grant has been made. Tho Chronio ward is duo to the generosity of Mr. J. N, who x made the magnificent donation of £1000 towards the object, tt'hilo the miinificiont bequest of £5000 was received from the estate of the late.Mr. Stokes, of Milburu Station. The balauco of tho money was made up of public contributions through tho medium of friendly societies, Hospital Sunday,, demonstrations, entortainmonls,' etc. The Chronic Ward provides for 80 patients, while'the Nurses' Home allows accommodation. for 81 inmates. The double opening ceremony was witnessed by a large attendance of the public. v Mr. W. Shrimptou, chairman of the Napier Hospital Trustees, in introducing tho Hon. G. Fowlds, referred to the absenco of Mr. J. N, Williams in Australia. He stated that Mr. Williams, with-his usual generosity, had cabled that the opening of the ward ' should not be delayed owing to his absence. i Sir. Foivlds, in the course of an Interesting »speech, said ho was delighted to be present to add a word of oncour'agoment to the spirit •of self-reliance that had been shown in connection with the building he was now about to opon,. and to express his appreciation of tho generosity: which ■' had , made the opening possible without anything in the 'nature-' of a '"special grant from the . Government. Ho would bo only too dolighted if it wore possible'for publio buildings of every description to bo built on this "principle, with tho aid of a Government subsidy only. If the people locally had to provide a considerable proportion of tho cost of public; buildings it .would bo a guarantee that tho , expenditure was required, and the Government might save money by providing the'subsidy without falling into tho worso extravagance that he was afraid was taking place. It was usual when buildings wore 1 erected by grants from the Government to ask a Minister to take part in the opening ceremonies. This was dono partly' out or gratitude, and gratifcudo had been defined as a lively senso of privileges to come. Ho. was afraid that very often, when a special grant, hid' been made tho gratitude to tho Xliuistry was in the nature of' a lively sense q( privileges to come. It was especially pleasing, therefore, to take part in a building which had been made possible with nothing in tho way of ft special grant from the Government, beyond the statutory sub-• • sidy provided by law.' They were opening this 'fine' building owing to the generosity of Mr. J. N. Williams, whose liberal donation"of £1000 towards its' erection had specially provided for a chronic ward... A| the request of the Inspector-General,' Mn Williams had very liberally consented to allow tho wa ; rd to bo used before the opening ■ in order to relievo the pressure upon tho hospital, and the people of this district- therefore o'wod.a double debt of gratitude to Ifr, Williams in making thin building available, not moroly for the' specific purpose which he : had in view, but also in making it available for ordinary hospital purposes. Napier had been extremely fortunate in tho genc-rosity of its citizens in connection witJi hospital : matters in addition to the donation of £1001) made for tfho erection of this building, Mr. rtV. Sltrimpton '■' had also very generously donated £1000' for the erection of a children's ward. (Applause.) Mr. Shrimpton was not content witili.ameTO monetary offer, oud his 1 work as chairman of the Hospital Trustees, which : ho -carried on with' enthusia.sm, was not measurable in mere : monetary ■ torniß. AVhile it was possible for him to say that tie.hospitals of this Dominion were generally very'well managed, there had been a dc.oroasing .willingness on tbp.parb of those on-v gaged in' administration 'to recogiiiso ' ;tho' prico that must bo paid to secure efficient . and economical administration of institutions such as ; these. Mr. Fowlds went on to ; rcfor to the work of the Inspector-General, and said,, that he hoped for the. most cordial cooperation between tho different bodies of hospifcal'trustees and \ the .Department in order that, they might, got tho very -best results wtih the minimum expenditure that wasi necessary. Proceeding to .speak of tho ideals of hospital management, the, speaker said that in years gone by there waa a great prejudice against going into a hospital. It was comethiug like going into a gaol. That ides had changed with -veennt years because or the • superior oonflitioue provided is ° ur hospitals,' and the tendency, was now to go to the. extreme iu the. opposite direction, H« was afraid , that now numy w?l|-to-dp people were inclined to go to hospitals when they were well ablo to pay tho cost -of treat-, meut in their own homes. Ho thought that the full cost of the maintenance and attendance of such patients should be paid directly by themselves. •There had been very considorable controversy on the methods of hospital management and charitable aid, and during the past three years ho had. givon the matter close consideration with the object of introducing legislation that would bring an improvement in the methods in vogue' in this country. They had in Una country what he might term.a higher humanitarianism in their administration of charitable aid. The present method of separate control of hospital and 'charitable aid did not make for efficiouoy of > adnnnistra. tion, and there was a danger of overlapping. The Bill which he proposed to submit to Parliament at tho earliest opportunity was ready, End had received tho very careful attention''of two Ministers, the Inspector-Gen-, • oral and a conference of gentlemen connected with hospital and eharitablo aid board management. Hβ hope it would bo possible t<l deal with the measure during the next.session, and ho 'appealed to members to deal with it in no spirit of localism or parochialism, but in such a way as to obtain tho best results for tho whole community. Mr, Fowlds paid a tribute to the. work of Jflio nurses, and concluded by declaring .the W llHams Chronic-.Ward and tho now Nurses , , Homo ooen. .'■-,, ■ ■. 'i» • Mr. J. Vigor Brown, M.P., Mayor of Isapier, returned tmanks to Mosws. Williams and Shrimptou for their handsomo donations, and said that ho- was pleased they had set the; example of giving of their moans during, their life. ■'■ , ■ Mr. Fowlds officially opened the ward with a gold key prosented to him for the occa- . sion. ' . ' * ■