SOLDIERS’ HOSPITAL

Grey River Argus, 8 October 1941, Page 6

SOLDIERS’ HOSPITAL

AT LOWER HUTT. P.A. WELLINGTON, October 7. - The view that the proposed soldiers’ emergency ward "at the Lower Hutt Hospital should be a charge on the State, instead of on the Wellington hospital district, was expressed at a meeting of the Wellington City Council Finance Committee, when the Wellington Hospital Board sought approval for a proposed loan of £25,000 for additional emergency accommodation at Lower Hutt Hospital for another 100 beds for soldier patients. The- Mayor (Mr. Hislop) said this was not the ordinary tvpe of. hospital for which local bodies were liable. It was for general defence purposes, and. should be a charge on

the War Expenses Account or the State generally, instead of being an absolute demand on the hospital district. “We should say that w e object definitely to this being foisted on to us,” he added. A resolution was passed, stating the Council, while realising the necessity for making the. required Provision for soldiers, objected to the financial burden imposed on the local bodies, and urging that representations be made that exceptional wartime expenditure of this nature be a charge on the general community, and not on this district alone. The resolution also urged that this view be supported by a deputation .to the Government.