CHARITABLE AID

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1932, Page 4

CHARITABLE AID

A CITY PROBLEM

(By Telegraph — ft. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, January 5. A determined effort .o persuade the Government to relieve hospital boards of the burden of outdoor relief, in connection with the unemployed will bo made early this a subcommittee of the executive of the Hospital Boards’ Association will wait upon the 'Prime Minister, the Right Hon. G. W. Forbes, the Minister in charge of Unemployment, the .Right Hon. J. G. Coates, and the Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young.

“The work jof hospitals ha S | been completely overshadowed by this consistent nightmare of relieving the distress of unemployed,'’ said Mr W. Wallace, president of the association, and chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, in making this announce* tnent.

The ordinary functions of hospital board s have been relegated entirety to the background and. a position - has arisen which is simply intolerable,,

'On New' Year's Eve there were over 925 recipients of relief at Aucnland, compared with the previous highest number of 476, dealt with in the depth of winter. The previous day there were . over 1100 recipients, making a total of 2000 in tw r o days. , “We cannot possibly carry on at this pace,” M>- Wallace continued “The Government is simply leaning back and doing nothing to meet -the problem. As far as the Auckland Hospital Board is concerned, we shall be faced with a' problem when the financial year ends in March of deciding whether we are in a position to budget for unemployment outdoor relief in future. : ’The usual charitable aid work course must continue, but it is my firm opinion that w-e should no longer continue t-o overburden ourselves with what is essentially a. national problem at the expense of our hospital duties." ,With respect to the objection raised against the holding of the hospital board's conference at Tiniaru in February on. the ground of economy, Mr Wadace said no one was less anxious to involve hospital boards in needless expense than himself, but if the boards could make their influence on the outdoor- relief question felt) through the medium of the conference they would be justified in holding it. Apart from the question of expense, however, he was doubtful whether the executive was constitutionally entitled to postpone the conference, Conferences, he said, were held biennially, and were required to elect an executive. On account of the •Hawkes Bay earthquake last year’s conference was. deferred, so that if the conference was again postponed this year four years would have elapsed without an election.