CONSUMPTION.

Grey River Argus, 20 July 1922, Page 7

CONSUMPTION.

SANATORIUM AT WAIPIATA. i TIMARU, .July 17. | The committee set up at the recent | conference of Hospital Boards in j Tiinaru for the purpose of providing a <■ i>ns u in p lion sa nato i i u m a t W r : •ip i a ta, ’ Central Otago, have not been idle, two visits having been paid to the she. j The committee have met in Dunedin | and discussed matters, ami the position ■ is that an ideal site, comprising 1150 | acres, has been secured, ; nd the com- | mitti’C are negotiating for the pur- : chase of Dr Byers’s small sanatorium ■ which adjoins the land which lias bcrni ‘ bought. Dr Byers's sanatorium would ; have been acquired in the first instance | but for the fact that the price asked j for it was considered to be in excess of its value, and the committee declined to give it. Dr Byers reduced his price after the first negotiations from £5856 to £5200, and since then he has further come down to £4750. This figure, however, is still considered too high by the committee appointed to negotiate, whose offer to Dr Byers is £3230. They i-onsider this such a liberal offer that thev decline to increase it by one penny. In a letter to the Director-General of Health, Dr Byers says he considers the committee’s offer of £3230 ‘‘a pure insult,’’ though not a deliberate one. Inter alia, in the course of a long letter, Dr Byers says: “It is a pity I haven’t the Health Department to deal with instead of these boards. In the former I would at least have had gentlemen to dead with, whereas—well, I won't enlarge. Another disadvantage in dealing with these men over a property like this is that they seem to have difficulty in grasping the fact that a thing that is not directly material or concrete such as compensation has a ! monetary equivalent (Dr Byers is ask- i ing £lOOO for the goodwill of his sana- | torium‘l. <’an you maintain that you i would readily have dropped on this situ if I had not first discovered it, experimented on it most fruitfully, and thus j led you to it ’ Would you not with absolute certainty have gone to Clyde, I which I am convinced would have prove.,l a blunder? Thin I saved you from, I and brought you to the very best site i in Central Otago. This I surrender to I you, and am I to get nothing for my | valuable discovery and experiment .’ | Ihr board members seem constitution- 1 ally unable to grasp such points. I s have saved many valuable lives for the State. What is that to them'? Rea- ) Using the value of ail the services, will I your department pay me £560 extra if 1 agree to t: ke £4250 from the board.’ j Surelv 1 deserve it. If you will make a j special exception in this exceptional | case, and accept this suggestion, I will ’ agree to take the lower figure mentioned I from the board. ’ ’ Dr Valintine, reply to t his lot ter, said: | “So far as the department is concern- • ed, it has the greatest confidence in the i committee and subcommittee. Your statement that you would have been | treated with more consideration if the j matter had been left to the officers of ; the Health Department 1 cannot allow to remain unchallenged. The depart- i meat is fortunate in being associated ■ with such capable, courteous, and ho-n--ourable men. Aloreover, I would have j you remember that the purchase of the ' propertv necessary for a sanatorium is ; rhe primary responsibility of the boards concerned, and the negotiations must of necessity be left in the hands of the committee approved by these boards. ’ ’ At the end of last week the Sanatorium Committee met in .Dunedin, and j it was decided that in regard to the first I j offer made by Dr Byers, the committee I I are unable to accept same: that the com- [ mitteo’s offer of £3230 be made to Dr i I Bvers again, and if he fails to accept it by August 1, 1922, he be informed ’ that all negotiations are closed; Dr Byers to be notified to forward his re- | ply and all future correspondence to the chairman of the Sanatorium CommitOn the motion of Messrs Ale Keown and Ritchie, it. was decided to ask the J boards concerned—Ashburton, South Canterbury, Southland, Westland, \ incent, Alaniototo, Wallace, and Fiord and Waitaki—to pay in their contributions towards the cost of the site purel.ased, to the chairman of the Sanatorium Committee, not later than 1 August 15th. I It -was decided to forward a report I of the doings of the committee to all boards interested, and to meet again i on August 15. If Dr Byers fails to accept the committee’s offer of £3230, it is intended to proceed at once with the erection of ■ a new sanatorium on the land already f acquired.