COUNCIL OBJECTS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 45, 17 November 1936, Page 5

COUNCIL OBJECTS

Proposed Hospital Loan On the grounds that sufficient information had not been supplied the Borough Council decided last m o ht to lodge a formall objection to the proposal of the Wellington Hospital Board to raise a loan of £600,000 for additions and improvements to the hospital. In reply to a question the town clerk. Mr. H. Firth, said the additional cost to the’ council would be £862 annually. “No one will question the fact that extensions to the hospital are urgently needed, but this proposed scheme lias come as a bombshell to the contributing local bodies,” said Cr. E. T. E. Hogg. The council had had occasion several times within the last few months to raise the question of the incidence of hospital maintenance. The council had suggested that that incidence should be revised, but the matter had not met with any, sympathetic response from the authorities. The council had given approval to a £150,090 scheme some time ago, and now without any explanation the council was suddenly told that the long-prepared loan was jettisoned and a new scheme substituted. The new scheme would probably cost £1,000,000. “While we admit that there is an urgent need for improvements, I think we can fairly suggest that it requires some consideration before we can swallow jit one gulp a scheme in yhich the first instalment is £600,000,” said Cr. Hogg. He also pointed out that there wae no mention of a hospital for the Hutt Valley. Cr. Hogg’s motion that the council lodge a formal objection was carried unanimously.