NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 198, 23 May 1928, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

More than local interest attaches to the discussion at the meeting of the Palmerston North Borough Council on the subject of Hospital and Charitable Aid expenditure. The occasion of the discussion was the proposed expenditure by the Palmerston. Hospital Boaid of a large sum on a new block of buildings. With the merits of this proposal we are not for the moment concerned. V\ hat is ot chief importance is the almost universal complaint by local bodies and bv ratepavers generally of marked increase m the cost ot Hospital and Charitable Aid expenditure. As most .people ate aware the money ■ for this is provided by rates extracted from the. local bodies and by contributions from the State. Ihe Government has some control over the expenditure of this money, but the local bodies have no other privilege than to meet the demands made upon them bv the Hospital Boards. There was a time when the loca bodies who contributed the funds had representation on the Hospital Boards, but such is not the case to-day. It will be noted that Councillor Fitzherbert suggested that every contributing body shou.c be represented on the Hospital Board of its district. 1 his is a quite reasonable proposal. Those who pay should have some control over the'expenditure. At the present time the Hospital Boards are elected by a general vote of citizens; and though this. has led to the election of many capable members, whose services might otherwise have been lost, it Is' not in existing circumstances a sound system. Had the Boards to provide the . money as well as spend it, the cost of our Hospitals might be less.

The mentality of the rank and file of Labour in Australia is difficult to understand. The Sea Cooks’ Union there decided to strike because the shipowners would not employ more cooks than was necessary. This is beyond dispute. As a consequence, a number of vessels have been laid up, and directly or indirectly througa the action of a few badly-advised and stupidly short-sighted sea cooks many hundreds of men have been thrown into the ranks ot the unemployed. A large number of those so affected, of course; are seamen and waterside workers. In an endeavour to leieve an absurd and intolerable position the Trades Union Council stepped in and sought a conference with the shipowners. lheieupon Mr. Johnson, the secretary of the Seamen’s Union, abusively descnbed the Council of the Trades Unions as "bushrangers. One would imagine that in Australia, where the hold-up exploits of the old-t.me bushrangers are . a familiar topic, the choice of the term bushranger” by the seamen's secretary would be regarded as peculiarly unfortunate. Not at all. Although the “holding up” has been entirely the work of the sea cooks, the aggressive Mi. Johnson yells "bushrangers” as the would-be peacemakers and so discredits their efforts, while the real "bushrangers” pursue their vicious, course. It is impossible to believe that the average labour unionist in Australia is gulled by such transparent bluff. Presumably he is intimidated —and pays the cost in unemployment.