The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Saturday, July 29, 1905. THE WAIRAU HOSPITAL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 179, 29 July 1905, Page 2

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Saturday, July 29, 1905. THE WAIRAU HOSPITAL.

"For goodness sake, gentlemen, go back and remove this reproach from Blenheim/ were the words with which Mr Seddon showed out the deputation that laid before him the troubles of the Wairan Hospital Board. Evidently the Premier feels the position just as keenly as any member of the community which has been so unfortunately advertised by its hospital matters. It is not surprising that his patience should be giving out. The affairs of the Blenheim |heim Hospital Board and its alleged | inhumanity to its patients have at- | traoted the attention of the press all over the colony, and there is a danger of the odium reflecting rather seriously on the Government, whose enemies are i only too ready to see in an incident of this kind an illustration of Seddonian | ineptitude. To give the incident a political meaning would, under the circumstances, be very unfair; though we have no hesitation in repeating that the system under which the colony's hospitals are built and maintained is to be blamed as much as the local Board itself. The seat of the trouble has been in the controversy as to the description of building required; and a system which imposes on a body of laymen the worry of wrestling with technical questions that ought to be confined to experts and text books is sadly in need of reform. Want of funds was, of course, the real obstacle, and the additional £1200 promised by the Premier is even more necessary than his forcible and paternal admonition to go to work without further delay; but, at the same time, the financial problem would have been brought to a head long ago if there had been less room for technical argument. However, with the £1200 added to the £1300 promised previously, and the £1500 or so on deposit, the Board ought now to be on a workable basis. There may still be a disposition to say that the bugs have been ridden to death; but it really does not matter a brass farthing now whether there is a single insect in the whole building. The structure has been concerned, lock, stock, and barrel, by doctors, architects, the Government, and the public generally (it vias condemned by Dr McGregor for structural reasons long before the bag scandal came into prominence); and to retain it would be to cover the community with shame. There is satisfaction in knowing that it will shortly be no longer possible to describe Blenheim as a forlorn place without a town hall for the healthy and a proper hospital for the sick.