THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

Marlborough Express, Volume XL, Issue 6, 8 January 1907, Page 1

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

OUR HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS

STATEMENT'BY THE MINISTER

[PEESS ASSOCIATION.]

WELLINGTON, Jan. 7. bpeakmg of the unification of the l üblic Health Department and the hospitals the Minister for Public Health (Mr Fowlds) said that he was a strong believer in local administration, so far as hospitals were concerned, and against centralisation, though he thought ■a i a'i the Government provided a large proportion of the total cost or the upkeep, it should have a little more control than at present. He intimated that he was looking out •f ia- Sl., e for a central Mental Hospital ln the North Island, which would leheve the Mount View Hospital, Wellington. All the mental hospitals wore practically full, and it was better to establish a central institution than extend the existing institutions, -l no Government proposed making provision for the establishment of re^ ceivmg institutions in each of the tour centres, where persons in incipient stages of insanity could either go voluntarily or be committed for observation and special treatment. In these the patients would receive more individual treatment than was now possible in the larger mental hospitals, which would be an important factor in effecting cures.