HOSPITALS CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS BILL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 663, 13 November 1909, Page 6

HOSPITALS CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS BILL.

, Oorsideraijcm.m comnntteo of tho -Hospitals i , ■ ■ and' Charitable Institutions Bill was ■then re-1 Kimod. l 1 I The. Hon. G,»POWXJ)S .askod that discussion I ".k cn;,Clansß : 39, vr<\latrnjr.to.. snbsi<li«s' to\ boards : . in lespeot of,moneys . received, should be post*pained .until .afterthe' remaining clauses had - beenVdealt r iHe . pointed , out. that the ; olanse,w - question; and -the ' schedule wero.the t Tho/request was to. . ; <?. '.The.;, Minister• ■ explained. i that ithe only " new ;;■ ; enb-dausos m Section; 42 "were Nos. . 10,-11, and . -A-local authority, nt was proposed, should .hav»; the'.power: whon.it Tequired money to s • acquire; a.Bite,- or ereo): building; to raise 'acon- • .tnhntiCn under -the. Local Bodies' -loans Act, .'instead iof loyy 6pread. overi a.' number -of years, \J

Amendment Probably Necessary. Mr MASSEY pointed out that under subclause., 11, it was proposed that tho Minister for Finance might lend money to any contributory authority, yet under the State Guaranteed Loins Advances Bill it wad proDo«cd that he must n,6t loud money to such; a Tie MINISTER agreed that a consequential i amendment would bo wces=ary He would Undertake that if the State Guaranteed Loans Advances Bill became law., fhis session, the power to Dorrew 'Would be exercieable under that, measure Mr' RHODES (EUesraer,c) moved that, in place of sub-clause 2, the following should be substituted—"Everj old board shall, before March. 20, 1910, for the information and guid ance of the newly elected board,, prepare esti motes of probable expenditure ,for tho ensuing yearjJand every biard before the same date in oacli succeeding year shall estimate its prob- ' eUe requirements for a similar period " ' The amendment waa rejected on th,e voices Soring the discussion, on bub clause 16 t of Clause 42, Mr,. Hemes suggested that hospital boards themselves should be' given power to borrow. Tho' difference between a contribution and a rate was, in his opinion, lnhrii tesimol ' f ' The MINISTER said he did not viow the , suggestion with' favour Jt was not desirable that two boards should liave rahug powers for the same purpose ovei , the same area Mr ANDERSON (Mataura) moved that any appeal by a local authority from an appor ttqnment of, a board jshonld. be made not to the , Minister but to a Stipendiary Magistrate and two assessors, one representing the local authoxiijy asd one representing the board The MINISTER replied that the system monS tinned in the Bill had worked satisfactorily 'in the past v _ r The amendment was rejected <on tho voices Position of t Non-Contributory Local Bodies. Upon the motion of itte /Minister, Clause 1 Section 47, which provides --that in certain cases the Valuer-General shall be deemed a contributory authority, was amended by the enrasion of the words "but there shall representatives of that district on tho board of the hospital district/' and the substitution ot the words "th«..G£Vernor may, if ho thinks I fit. both to the population and 1 to the ratable valno of the property in any such part of a hospital district, by Order rai Council in the" month of December* in each ■year appoint such number of members as he may think fit, not exceeding three, as ropre of that part of the district on the ; Tward." ', < 1 Mr i-WITTY (Rrccarton) propdsed an amend joent to Clause 49, which'provided that money pending investment shall be paid into such tank as the board from time to time determine by the'addition of the ivords "or lodged — - with some local authority authorised by statute to bdnw money otherwise than fiom

•a bank." ' that itiwas doubtful policy to allow one board to deposit its surplus moneys with another'local authority in accordance with tho proposal Mr. T.,E TAYLOR (Chnstchurch North) did not think that boards should be forced to invest their surplus moneys in one of the five banks doing,"business in thp Dominion, seeing that unices tho moneys wore banked for a fixed term they'would get no interest Local bodies should be encquraged to assist one another to if. save interest on tuoir moneys Mr. DILLON (Hawke's Bay) 6aid he had been much tickled during 'the course of the i , discuTOon' As,far as,he knew, all tho local Indies instead of having surplus moneys had overdrafts ' .The amendment was lost by 42 votes to 23 With the Minister's consent, on the suggestion of Sir William Steward, the following ' clause was deleted.—"No,money, land, or other proporty shall, without the consent of tho Minister, be accepted>by a board in trust for the establishment of any new institution " In the clanso allowing boards, for building and other purposes, to borrow money "whether by way oi bank ovei draft or any other manner/'* Mr. Luko, Suburbs) -t moved an amendment, to insert after the word ' overdraft"- the words "or by way of special loan undor the Local Bodies Loans Act 5, If facilities were given to the boaTds to borrow money at about 3J per cent, it would be a great nsmßtance to them Mr. DILLON (Hawko's Bay) oppowd the amondment on the ground that there were far too great facilities for borrowinp already Hβ objected to competition among different towns In orectinc pelatial buildings ■ Mr HERRIES (Tauranga) said that this objection applied to tho wholo clanso, rather than to tho amendment proposed to bo inserted The amendment was by 37 votes to 26 The following amendment to the same clause vras moved jbySir William Steward,—"ln respect of ordinary maintenance expenditure, the board, may borrow by way of bauk overdraft, provided that such overdraft shall not at any fame exceed tho total of unpaid contribuhont levied upon contributory local authorities, plus the amount of subsidy due but remaining unpaid " The amendment was (adopted by 32 votes to 22 t, 1 Upon, Clause 56 bring msconsidered, it was agreed, on the motion of the Hmretcr, that eut)«*<!tion 1 bo amended to the effect that a board might, with tho coiifent of the Minister, eell or esonange any laid "other.than land hold in ttiKt vested m it" ' Mr. STALI/WORTHY (Kaipara) then moved im amendment to Clause 59, to provide that bWde,. might sell) exchange, mortgage, or «hargo lands held in trust, "only with the eoneont of thp Minister" x I Mr~ ANDERSON (Mataura) 1 objected that this 'a as about the, only clause wh. oh did not contain the statement '/with, tho)consent of tho MinpstCT," "with the otfnsertt of the Gov-ernor-nvConnal," or some equivalent He thought boards should eom*

c Mr. FRASER (Wakahpu) thought that the Government should retain some authority to prevent reckless departure from the terms of trust. Mr ALLEN (Bruce) declared that, in view of Clauso 58, the proposed amendment wis a con tradiction , The anfendirient wa4 ipprovcd and the clause, as amended, was letained by 30 votes Sir WILLIAM STEWARD (Waitaki) suggested that tho , amount up to which no new institution should be Established or a building ereoted, or alterations made should be in creased from £100 to .£250

The Minister aerted" to this Mr JAMES \LLEN (Brnce) moved an amdndment ;to'doleto from Clause 64,' which, states that it ehall bo the dutv of every board to provide and maintain hospitals, an addi tion "and to make such other provisions as the Inspector General from time to time consid ers requisite" The Ppinion was expressed by several members that the Inspector General should not have power to interforo with the control of the boards It was also urged, as an objection to unduo centralisation, that tho Inspector General could not have sufficient local knowledge to deal with special cases The amendment was negatived l At 110 a.m ,Mr Massey suggested reporting P The Hon G FOWLDS urged that tho most contentious portion of the measure had been passed, and it was Friday night Mr. MASSETi said he had work to -Go on Saturday. Very good nor! had been done on tho Bill, and there had been no obstruction It would reqmro another nighf s work to go through the rest of tho Bill Mr FOWIDS proposed to leave out new clauses, the financial clauses, end tho schedules, but to take the rest of the Bill Mr MASSBY said it was ionsensical to go on at that hour Clause 65 was amended by tho deletion of Subclauso 1 and its replacement bj the following snb-clanse —"For the management of any in sfatutaon under the control of a board, or for tho admfnistration of an\ matter within, the powers of a borird, a boaid may, and so long as it thinks fit, establish a committee " Sub clause 3 of Clauso 65 was amended by the in sortion of tho words now given in parentheses "Every such committee shall, aubiect to the control of -the board, havo the general manage ment of the institution (or the general admin lstration of the matter) in respect of which the committee is established " It was then agreed that it should not be neces ary to have the consent of the Minister to an agreement between boards which desire to combine to establish and maintain an institution When/Hause C 9 had been dealt with, progress was reported, and the House adjonrned till Tuesday next