The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton. Hurleville, Patea, Waverley. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 24 April 1913, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton. Hurleville, Patea, Waverley. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE.

The remarks printed in this column on Wednesday relative to the failure of many people to realise the responsibility that rests on them to repay, if not the whole, at least a part of the cost of the services which they receive from hospitals, would appear to be applicable much further afield than Soutn Taranaki. In Wellington the position is so acute that it has led to a very great protest from press writers and the representatives of local bodies. The Dominion directs attention to the large increase in the number of patients treated sit Wellington Hospital, and observes: "In-patients have risen from 2144 in 1906 to 4064 in 1913, and outpatients from 11,597 to 17,934 in the same period, an increase quite disproportionate to the increase of population. If these j)atients were aril paying for the use of the hospital and the services of its staff, the financial strain on the ratepayers would not be so severely felt, but it is a very serious matter to find that there are bad debts on the books to the amount of between £14,000 and £15,000, this sum being spread over a number of years. No one wants to drag the last penny from poor patients, but more stringent measures appear to be necessary to ensure that the privilege of free treatment is not abused. This raises a very big question, but it will have to be faced sooner or later, and the sooner the better. The contributing bodies- are evidently going to call a halt, and the time has certainly come for the whole situation to be carefully reviewed before any further extension in the Board's sphere of operations is undertaken. The difficulty to be overcome is to prevent the heavy increase in expenditure and at the' same time keep the Board's institutions thoroughly up-to-date." The local bodies surrounding Wellington are badly hit by the rapid increase of the levies made upon them. In some cases this year the increase has been 33 per cent. This is not wholly caused by the increase in the free patients at the hospital : in fact, perhaps in a large measure it is due to the fact that the General Government is constantly thrusting new duties on the Boards, and that the Boards themselves, owing to various kinds of pressure put upon them are incurring heavy additional expenditure for things which, if desirable. - are by no means necessary. Some remarkable instances of the latter cause of expenditure are given in the Wellington papers, but as they have little or no local application they need not be specified. But as to the new duties cast upon the Boards, it may be mentioned that medical services to Maoris, costing thousands a year, formerly borne by the consolidated, revenue, have been gradually transferred to the statutory liabilities of Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards, and by them met by means of increased levies on the contributing bodies. Transfers from the Public Health Department are also mentioned. By contrast the levy of' the Hawera Board is light, but. its experience of growing responsibilities is cosn mon experience, so common that by general consent there is arising in Wellington, and probably in other narts of the country, a feeling that the taxpayer is being imposed on.