HAWERA HOSPITAL BOARD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 18 June 1912, Page 6

HAWERA HOSPITAL BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING

The monthly meeting of the Hawera Hospital Board was held on Monday at the office of the secretary, Mr C. E. Parrington. There were present: Messrs R. H. Nolan (chairman), W. Duirs, T. A. Bridge, J. Marx, W. Swadling, T. A. Wells, C. Tarrant, G. Tayler, and W. Goodland. ~~ PROPOSED LECTURES. The Premier wrote that owing to the many demands at present being made on his time he was afraid he would be unable to deliver his lectures in aid of the hospital for some time to come. He was more than sorry that this was so, but at some future date he hoped he might be in a position to deliver the lectures. Members considered that Mr Mackenzie could reasonably be excused just now. With reference to an offer from Mr Turner to give lectures on "Mountain Climbing," it was decided to inform him that the time was not opportune for the proposed lectures, but that the Board hoped it would be able to avail itself of his offer at some future time. ASSISTANT MAORI NURSE. The Inspector-General of Hospitals advised that Nurse Saunders Jones, now iii Auckland, had been appointed to assist Miss Beetham, vice Nurse Wi R«pa. Later advice intimated that Nurse Jones was unable to accept the appointment. The Chairman said that the district was still without an assistant. INCREASE IN SALARIES. ffisters Haw ken and Cooke applied for an increase in their salaries. The House Surgeon (Dr Thomson) recommended that the application be granted. The feelina of members was that the matrqn should also be given an increase. A. motion was carried that the matron and the two sisters be given an increase of ;£n each. An amendment that the three be granted an increase of £10 each was lost, and another amendment, that the matron be given an increase of £10 and the two sisters £5 each, was not seconded. ADDITIONS TO FUNDS. The Otakeho bachelors' ball committee forwarded a contribution of £1 Is, Mi- W. Spence £1, "A Friend" 10s, J. Speight and Co. £1 Is, while Mr Tayler banded j'b a cheque for £16, subscribed ?\y Kltham people for a deserving case in the institution. The secretary was authorised to write to the givers thanking them for moneys forwarded. THE BALANCE-SHEET. The balance—sheet was returned, marked as follows: "Examined and found correct, except that there is no statutory authority for the payment of 15s to members of the Board for each attendance at meetings, and that certain payments to members are not considered to have been "reasonably incurred and actually paid" within the meaning of section 32 of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1909. Also that the unauthorised expenditure exceeds by £2 19s 4d the limit imposed by law." " The expenses referred to were mainly i<a connection with travelling fares. Mr Tayler considered that all the expenses had been reasonably incurred, and especially as the members devoted n lot of time to the interests of the Board. The chairman must spend some portion of nearly every day at the hospital, or dealing with its affairs. He believed that the time would come when there would be a difficulty to get people to leave their businesses to sit on local bodies without payment. Mr Goodland said he understood there was a tendency to pay members of local botlies, and that this was proposed in the new bill.

The Chairman: That is so. But what the Controller-General says is that these expenses "have not been reasonably incurred and actually paid."

Mr Goodiand said that on a previous occasion he had drawn attention to these words, and if he remembered rightly he always crossed out these words in his voucher. The Chairman said it would be better to allow the matter to drop as he purposed visiting AVellington this week, and would interview the authorities. CV. Goodland said it -.voukl be as -noil to inform the authorities that the expenses incurred were unreasonably low, and that if this was not acceptable the board would resign in a body. The Chairman: I think we had better 'ignore it. VISITING COMMITTEE. Messrs Marx and Swadling were appointed a visiting committee. NATIVE HEALTH WORK. Miss Beetham reported that the wet weather had interfered with her work. The cases treated had all been of a minor character. The work during the month had been confiend mostly to the Okaiawa district.