THE WELLINGTON HOSPITAL.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 516, 22 May 1879, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON HOSPITAL.

A meeting of tbe Hospital Committee of the City Council was held at tbe Council Chamber yesterday afternoon. Present— The ActingMayor (Councillor G. Allen), and Councillors Diver, Maginnity, and Moss ; Drs. Johnston, Kemp, and Harding also attended, at the request of the Cou noil, to confer with the committee. Dr. Johnston suggested that the Hospital might either be managed by a committee of the Council, when he presumed the expenses would be met out of the ordinary revenue of the Council or by a special rate ; or it might be supported by voluntary contributions, an honorary medical staff being appointed to look after the patients, with the assistance of a resident surgeon. He urged that the latter plan would be by far the better. No doubt there would be some difficulty at first in collecting subscriptions, owing to the people of the colony having become educated to expect to bave their institutions' provided and maintained for them at the cost of Government ; but he firmly believed the people, when once they had been induced to take an interest in the institution, would heartily support it. A Board of Management might be appointed, consisting, say, of 10 members— some appointed by the City Council, some elected by the ratepayers, and some by the Hutt County Council. Jn conclusion, Dr. Johnston said that for a period of twenty years he had been in the service of the Government— first in the service of the Provincial Government, and more lately in that of the General Government — and he thought at least he might have been consulted with regard to the change. AH he knew was that suddenly he was told the Hospital had been banded over to the Corporation ; and what he wanted to know was what position he occupied, because he did not want to take office under the City Council, and then find himself deprived of the compensation he was entitled to by loss of office after holding office so long. Councillor Ditbr said that he had been unofficially informed by the Hon. Mr. Ballance that Dr. Johnston would be treated just as any other officer of long standing who had been deprived of office under the Abolition of Provinces Act, and would receive a month's pay for every year of service. Dr. Kemp endorsed Dr. Johnston's idea that the Hospital should be supported by voluntary contributions. He added that there were at the present time a considerable number of beds in the Hospital occupied by persons who bad no right whatever to be there. (Hear, hear.) They were simply infirm, and ought to be provided for in a separate institution, so as to make room in the Hospital for those who were sick and ill. If that were done there would, he supposed, be nearly a hundred beds in the Hospital. Dr. Johnston said that between eighty and ninety beds were now made up, but the wards were crowded, so that instead of there being 1200 cubic feet of air per patient, there was but 60S or 700. Dr. Kbmp, continuing, said he thought that if the course he suggested could be adopted there would be sufficient room in the building to accommodate the wants of the city for some time to come, and he thought the Hospital should be kept where it was. (Hear, hear.) The new building was all that could be desired were it in a central position, but it was very much out of the way, and quite a long distance from the wharf, the shipping, and the railway. Accidents were constantly occurring at tbese places, and frequently a hospital would be of little use if a man had to be carried a mille and a half out of town. Moreover, he did not think medical men practising in town would be found willing to undertake the work of honorary surgeons if they had to go so far every day for the purpose of seeing one or two patients. At the suggestion of Dr. Harding, it was resolved that the medical gentlemen present should meet the other doctors of the town and draw up a report dealing with the whole question, for presentation to the Council. The medical gentlemen then withdrew, and the rest of the committee, after discussing the position of Dr. Johnston, resolved to write to the Government on the subject. The meeting then adjourned.