THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL.

Evening Star, Issue 21718, 12 May 1934, Page 12

THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL.

The first reflection prompted by perusal of the Hon. Mr Young’s statement on tho maternity hospital issue is: If the Government had always dealt so with expenditure, what surpluses there would have been in years that have seen deficits! The ,only consideration to detract from the conclusion is that no Government that carried parsimony to such an extreme limit would have been likely to last long. As the Minister of Health defines the position, the Government is willing to find £20,000, half by direct grant and half by way of subsidy. The Hospital Board has asked it for £20,000 as grant, with the transfer to it of St. Helens Hospital, marked to be closed down, merely as a negotiable asset. The alternative suggestion for reconditioning St. Helens Hospital and making that, to Hie best

of its superannuated ability, serve instead of a new one does not come into the question because the hoard, very properly, has definitely rejected that proposal. Mr Young contends that the offer of the Dunedin Savings Bank to find £6,000 towards the building cost does not come into the question so far as his department is concerned, as that offer would relieve the Hospital Board and not the Government. That contention will not hold water, however, because the offer was made conditional upon the Government accepting the board’s proposal. Practically all that lies between the parties now is the transfer of St. Helens Hospital, which the Government does not want to use itself. The Government should see that the haggling spirit of extreme economy which it is now displaying is being applied to the wrong cause. The women of New Zealand have raised £25,000 by voluntary subscriptions to improve the standard of maternity treatment; the Otago Hospital Board has made its offer; and the £6,000 from the Savings Bank represents Otago savings as much as if it was coming from the board. The hospital, however it is provided, will be very much under the control of the Health Department. “ Women all over the dominion,” the woman secretary of the New Zealand Obstetrical Society has stated, “ are chafing at the delay which allows this vital matter to be pigeon-holed pending a more auspicious day for Ministerial action,” and the Government will come off very lightly if it accepts the latest offer after the promise of £50,000 made five years ago.