ESTIMATES UP

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 83, 8 April 1938, Page 8

ESTIMATES UP

HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE

FURTHER LEVY ON LOCAL BODIES

SALARY INCREASES TOTAL £18,565

An. increased, estimate of £20,690 in the gross, ordinary expenditure of the Wellington Hospital for. the year .1938-39 was approved by the Hospital Board at a special meeting last evening. The total estimated expenditure is £210,595, compared with £189,905-spent for the year 1937-38. On-the estimates approved last evening, the levies from the contributing local bodies will be struck, and these will be considered by-the board at its next meeting. Increases in salaries amounting to £18,565 are provided for, the total salary bill for the board's: employees being £118,511, compared with £99,946 for the previous year. '

Details of the estimates, with figures for the previous year in parentheses, are as follows:— GROSS ORDINARY EXPENDITURE. Wellington Hospital, social welfare, head office, etc., £276,567 (£240,942); less receipts other than subsidies and levies, £65,972 (£51,037). Total, £210,595 (£189,905). ORDINARY EXPENDITURE. "Wellington Hospital," £241,341 (£204,588); social welfare, £12,165 (£12,961)'; Central Park Hospital, £9975 (£7757); head office, etc., £13,086 (£11,450); liabilities over assets, nil (£4186). Total, £276,567 (£240,942). .--.-■■'■ ORDINARY RECEIPTS. Hospital maintenance fees, £33,500 (£29,121);. outpatients fees, £2250 (£1944); X ray arjd radium fees, £1900 (£1732); physio-therapeutic fees, £750 (£733); dental fees, £2650 (£2346); bacteriological fees, £1720 (£1713); endowment rents, £7000 (£8437); contributions and bequests, £500 (£520); miscellaneous, £1100 (£1024); Central Park Hospital, £3780 (£3318); interest on endowments, £110 (£149); assets over liabilities, 31/3/38, £10,712 (nil). Total, £65,972 (£51,037). QAPITAI. EXPENDITURE. £38,618 (£16,018); assets over liabilities, £11,224 (£16,939), £27,394. LOANS. £778,500 (£4006). WELLINGTON HOSPITAL. .Provisions.—£24,9so (£24,396). Surgery and Dispensary.—£l2,32o (£10,421). " Domestic—£24,2oo (£23,243).Establishment.—£s3Bo (£5135). Salaries. and Wages—£llß,sll (£99,946), 7 Miscellaneous.—£3o,9Bo (£24,921). T0ta1.—£241,341 (£204,588). ■ Important items in "miscellaneous Include £9000, sanatorium fees; £3000, material for X-ray department;. £2800 each for provident fund and Macarthy Home; £2500 for repairs; £2300 for miscellaneous and contingencies; and £2200 for.material for: dental department,' SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT. Outdoor.—City, * £7960 (£8570); Lower Hutt. £1020 (£1050); Petone, £1160 * (£1210); Eastbourne,' £85 (£102); Johnsonville, £225 (£288). Upper Hutt, £570 (£580); Makara County, £12d (£122); Hutt Qounty, £200 (£252). Totals, £11,340 (£12,174). Medical service: £500 (£495). Statutory.—Defective children, £325 (£292); grand total, £12,165 (£12,961). For the year 1936-37, the total spent on social welfare was £23,431. £7000 is set aside for rations, compared with £7144 spent last year, and £14,575 in 1936-37. £250 is set, aside for clothing compared with £281 spent in 1936-37. £300 is set aside for casual relief, compared with £134 spent in 1936-37. £2000 is earmarked for cash grants, compared' with £2494 spent last year, and* £5787 spent in 1936-37. CENTRAL PARK HOSPITAL, Expenditure. — Provisions, £1950 (£1787); surgery and dispensary, £141 (£139); domestic and establishment, £2882 (£1634); salaries and wages, £3937 (£3226); miscellaneous, £1065 (£971); total, £9975 (£7757).* Receipts.—Maintenance fees, £220 (£212); old age pensions, • £3500 (£3068); sundry sales, £20 (£18); Christmas, £20 (£1); interest on bequests, £20 (£19); total, £3780 (£3318). HEAD OFFICE AND DISTRICT NURSES. 7 Board travelling, £250 (£199); salaries, £6518 (£5234); printing, stationery, ai* advertising, £650 (£634); telephone, postage, and exchange, £280 (£252); staff travelling, £200 (£134); audit fees, £165 (£161); insurance, £13 (£12); miscellaneous, £180 (£274); honorarium (Chairman), £250 (£250); endowment charges, £1150 (£1088); legal, £140 (£108); pensions, £90 (£90); total', £9886 (£8436). District nurses, £3000 (£2814); District Nursing Guild of St. John' (Wellington), £200 (£200). Grand total, £13,086 (£11,450). CAPITAL EXPENDITURE. Items of "capital" expenditure, with 'last year's expenditure (if any) in parentheses, are as follows:— Repayment of loans, £6014 (£5967); sinking fund for debentures, £4071 (£4071); repairs and additions to the Macarthy Home, £2700 (£939); replacing nurses' home roof with, iron, £1200 (£822); tennis courts, Ewart and Fever nursing staffs, £150; one new deep Xray plant, £1658; operating table, main theatre, £150; one mangle, £4000; purchase of Lower Hutt property for hospital site, £5664; miscellaneous capital.items, £1000 (£285); proposed roadway, Seddon Hill, £800; total, £38,618 (£16,018). . LOANS. . By loans: Additions nurses' home, new boiler house, and acute block, £738,000 (£4006); new stores, £12,000; temporary wards, £7000; additions and alterations to laundry, £4000; schoolroom and solarium, children's hospital, £2500; nurses' temporary dining-room equipment and alterations'to! laundry roof, £6000; new backs to wards 4, 5, 6, and 7, £3000; total, £811,118 (£20,024). ■ . MAINTENANCE ASSETS. Balance in general account, £14,139 Is 3d; amount owing by employment division, Labour Department, for wages Central Park Hospital, £32; total, £14,171 ls 3d. ,■ MAINTENANCE LIABILITIES. Amount of subsidy due to public account, £3,459 Bs—£lo,7ll 13s 3d. CAPITAL ASSETS. t Balance of capital levy account, -£5752 19s; sale of improvements, £21 8s 6d; receipts from Penrose Street block, Lower Hutt, £5450; balance of uplifted and proposed loans, £758,494 8s sd— £769,718- 15s. lid.. INCREASED SALARIES "NECESSARY." *■ When the board considered salaries, Dr. T. L. Parr drew attention to the fact that the maximum salary .for the superintendent was fixed at- £1500 a year, and asked what was the position regarding the arrangement made previously.

' The chairman (Mr. J. Glover) said there had been a" change In: the- last year or two in salaries. In Auckland, the Hospital. Board had made two appointments—one from £1500 to £2000, and a secretary at £1500—and if the Wellington board was to keep its men, then it had to increase the salary. .;The .present scale, was £1300, and it would increase by £50 yearly to £1500. "":.'.• '.'" , - t A motion that the superintendents salary remain as at present—at £1400 —was defeated by 11 votes to 3. Dr. Parr also raised the, question of the assistant 'superintendent's salary. In -.his case, the recommendation was as follows: "Scale, £1150, rising to £1300 per annum by annual increments of £50, plus house allowance, £150 per annum. Salary from April 1, 1938, to be £1150 per annum." Mr. Glover said that a letter had been' received to the effect that conditions had changed somewhat and better prospects were offering elsewhere than at Wellington. The board was asked whether it would be prepared to consider the salary when the ■ estimates were being considered. Dr. Parr: He is still in the terms of the' original agreement? Mr. Glover: Yes. Mr.-A. W. Croskery said, that the board would have to face up to the position that its chief clinical officer should be paid the salary ■ paid in other places. It was absurd to ask him .to work for the salary, he was receiving when Auckland was paying £2000 for similar services. They could not expect, the assistant superintendent to stay unless conditions ■ were made attractive. . , Dr. Parr' said that the position in Auckland was not analogous. Mr. A. H. Carman pointed out later that there had been marked increases in nurses' salaries during the board's tenure of office. Nurses who had received £27 a year two years ago now received £45. He pointed out that the secretary's salary had been increased from £552 to £800, and the accountant's from £297. to £450, and he wondered whether it was wise to increase salaries further. The chairman remarked that previously overtime had been paid these officers, but it was not paid now. THE "TIN SHED."

An item of £1500, "Temporary accommodation—additions to 'tin shed'" —raised a question from Mr. Croskery, who asked what it referred to. The chairman said that it was proposed that infectious diseases should be put into the "tin shed." Mr. Croskery: I hope the board will never agree to putting the infectious diseases hospital right down at the back dpor of the children's hospital. Mr. Carman moved that the item be deleted. v • ' The chairman said' that nobody felt sanguine about it, but the board had been told that it could be done without any risk. The item was deleted. Mr. Croskery also protested against £6000 being set aside for residences for the superintendent and assistant1 superintendent. "Are we going to build palaces for these people?" he asked. "It's absurd to spend £3000 on a residence; Mrs. A. McVicar: That's furnished. Mr. Croskery said £2000 should be enough for each house, and he would move that the item be referred back for consideration. The chairman said that all that was asked was authority to borrow the money, if necessary. Mr. J. W. Andrews opposed the motion, remarking that many workers' cottages cost £1500 to £1600. . The motion, was carried.