THE Marlborugh Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1882.

Marlborough Express, Volume XVII, Issue 71, 27 March 1882, Page 2

THE Marlborugh Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1882.

"How are our hospitals "administered?" is a question often asked and we believe never yet satisfactorily answered. At the annual meeting of the Marlborough County, Council held one day last week, a' lengthy discnssion took place as to the amount of assistance that should i bo afforded these institutions, and m the end a motion was passed to the effect that for every pound contributed by the Borough of Blenheim towards the support of the Wairau Hospital the Council should give 255, the whole of such subsidy not to exceed £200 ; and 50s to the Picton Hospital for every £1 contributed by the Borough of Picton, the subsidy m this case not to exceed £150. Excepting iv respect to the pro rata conditions, the County Council grants-in-aid do not differ much from those made m previous years for the like purpose. The practice, we believe, has been to throw the support of the hospitals on to two Road Boards, these boards being allowed an increased percentage of the county fund to meet the necessary expenditure. It has been practice, moreover, for each of the two Boroughs, m the Province to vote an amount sum towards its own hospital. In the case of the Blenheim Hospital, £100 lias been substituted and m that of Picton £50 per annum. Under the new subfiJifT a £ opted b y tbe Coi »% SX T^?? borough of Blenheim will have to increase its vote for the Wairau Hospital to £160 m °n i\ ob jf v ««> £200 maximum allowed by the County, and £00 will have to be voted by the Picton Borough Council to obtain the £150 allowed the hospital m that district. The increase m the former instance will amount to £60 and m the latter £10 a year. Granting that the population of Blenheim is very much larger than that of Picton, we cannot help feeling that 25s for every pound is

linnlly om- iiiir proportion, for not only iloos (,lio AVairau Hospital open its doors i.v persons resident this wide of tlio river, but experience lias shown that a very largo number of cases that should properly have been atteiuloil to m tho Picton Hospital have sought and obtained adnii sion here. ' Leaving tin's question, however, tvg aye led to consider the prcsnt unsatisfactory state of the law as to tho management of hospitals and other kindred institutions m tho colony. The Picton Hospital is managed by a purely local committee : tho Wairau Hospital, on the other hand, is cared for by a committee composed of the Mayor of Blenheim and the chnirmon of the several road boards within the district. The meetings of both committees are private, and the public, who have to pay the piper, are absolutely m the dark as to the concerns of either hospital. Of late years some very ugly revelations have been made concerning hospitals and lunatic asylums m Now Zealand, and though we trust that none of the evils so exposed have existence m this province, it is idle for anyone to deny that abuses exist, both m Picton and Blenheim, which could not have taken root — and could not even now live— if the affairs of their respective committees wore rendered as public as those of other local bodies. Suspicion is said to be worse than reality, and it may be that many peculiar stories concerning the Wairau Hospital are without foun^ dation. Nevertheless, it is none the less necessary that, iv these days of . democracy, the public should not only know how their money is being spent, but should also have a voice iv the management of hospitals or other institutions they support. There is a rule at the Wairau Hospital, we believe, by which all patients received into the hospital are called upon to pay at the rate of 80s. a week for their care and keep. The rule, however, appears to be an exceedingly flexible one, for it was stated at the County Council meeting the other day that only £27 had been collected iv this way during the year. There are, of course, .nany cases m which persons leaving the hospital are unable to earn enough for their own support for some months after they are discharged as convalescent. It would evidently be impossible to exact any payment froni suoh persons, at least for a long time after their discharge, but we cannot help thinking that the £27 collected last year is a very small sum indeed, and that there has been neglect of some sort somewhere. During the last session of the defunct Parliament a Hospital and Charitable Aid Bill was introduced, which would have coped m large measure with the difficulties to which we have now but casually alluded. The. Bill, however, like uther good measures, was never brought to a third reading. We trust that next session will see the Bill revived, 'and that m it will lie; found provisions making, m the first place, the meetings of Hospital Committees open to the Press and public, and, m the second place, regulating the constitution of tho Committees iv such manner that the ratepayers of a district may have a dutiuct voice m the election of their mombers.