H. & C.A. Administration.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XXII, Issue 3821, 29 July 1916, Page 3

H. & C.A. Administration.

SPRINGS COUNTY COUNCIL SEEKS INFORMATION.

At Tuesday's, meeting of the Springs County Council, Cr. Wolfe stated that he had noticed in the "Guardian" report of the Ellesmere Council's last meeting that the clerl. had been instructed to write to the secretary of the North Canterbury Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for a return showing the number of persons from the Springs and Ellesmere Counties who had received treatment at the hospital or other aid from the board during the last /year. He thought it was the right thing to do and would move that the Springs Council

should ask for a similar return. | Cr. Wolfe complained that the contributing local bodies did not get as much information as they had done in the past. It was only right thai, those bodies which were paying such large sums annually shotnldf I have such information as he desSre . should be obtained. He thow^'at all the local bodies should mstke similar applications, Cr, Klrae seco_ffed the motto?/, Cr. Andrew, representative of Sptlngs and Ellesmere On the H. and C.A. Board, said he could supply the figures, and, had he done so at the previous meeting, instead lof overlooking the matter in the pressure of business, tbe Ellesmere Council would have had no need to w.itt. tq th« writ!, y f. t At Mo.*

mation. The residents of Ellesmere ' who had been either treated *at one ] of the institutions, or had received other assistance during the year, j totalled! 51, and the Springs figures were 28. He could assure them that the secretary of the board would "be only too pleased to give any information that was asked for. He was not at all clear as to what the EUesmere Council wanted, but it was, unreasonable to expect that the whole of the money collected in the tiifferent districts by way of t levies; should be spent on people from, those districts who needed j treatment or assistance. Urgent j ca.es from the country always received prompt attention, and, as far as he could judge, the institutions were doing their best for all the districts they were intended to '..serve. The proposal that local ii bodies should combine and have j; hospitals of their own did not meet f with his approval, for it would be j doing away with the efficiency that jj obtained under the present system. .He had strongly opposed a proposal I'iin the direction indicated, which Iliad come before the Farmers' j Union. The means of conveying ii;people to the hospital were much .'better than in the past, owing to l.imotor cars coming into such genejjjrral use, and ha did not think there if "was any need for local hospitals.

Cr. Stoddart said he did not apjlprove of the idea of having hospitals in the country districts, owing 'to the fact that it would be impossible to maintain the same efficiency •as In the large centres, and the cost ■of administration would be much '.greater. $ The motion was carried.