WAIRAU HOSPITAL BOARD

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 110, 12 May 1914, Page 2

WAI RAU HOSPITAL BOARD

I The monthly meeting of the | Wairau Hospital and Charitable Aid I Board Avas held yesterday afternoon. {There were present: Messrs J. J. I Corry (chairman), D. Bishell, H. Cheesraah, C. Nees, A. Weaver, S. M. Neville, and W. Carr. MINERS. Mr" A. B. Alford, secretary of the Wakamarina Miners' Industrial . Union, wrote asking that some arrangement be made between the Board and the union for ,the accommodation, treatirfent, and maintenance of.sick and injured miners. A committee had been set up to consider the advisability of forming an Accident Association. It was resolved to inform the union that the Board was prepared to allow it the concession given, to friendly societies, provided: that the union undertook to become responsible for the fees due by its members. TUBERCULOSIS. The Charitable Aid Committee recommended that the Board enter into an agreement with, the North r Canterbury Board for the treatment of patient's , suffering from tuberculosis, and that this Board provide the necessary shelter structures at the southern sanatorium for the treatment of cases from this district. The recommendation was adopted. THE NEW HOSPITAL.

T"he Board's seal was attached to an agreement with Messrs Jones and Cameron, , builders, for the erection of the now hospital for £17,225. The Chairman . explained that this amount was £266 less. tham the architect's final estimate, which the Board agreed to when it-adopted the amplified plan. _ The .appointment or Mr Li. Kj. Morgan ~as clerk of works for the building of the, new hospital, at a salary of £5 10s per week, was approved. . ■ ; - l » ' ' -i An account for £114 Is. from the Wellington 'firm, of solicitors which conducted the Board's case before the Commission set tip to inquire int® the necessity for a new hospital was passed for payment, and it was resolved to-"apply- to the firm for a donation for the hospital. v The Oiriaka Road Board advised that it approved of -the allocations for the 'ensuing' year's maintenance and the erection of a new hospital, provided that all the contributing local bodies were ra.ted on the new valuations. Mir L. Griffiths, secretary of the Wai rait Road Board, attended the meeting and asked that, as the new valuation for' tho Borough of Blenheim would not be available until later in the year, the levies made for the work of building a new hospital be cancelled, if it were legally possible to do so, with a view to adoption of a system of levies that would place the borough on the same footing as that of all the other local bodies. He urged that such a readjustment would prevent an ! inequity. • 1 A discussion of considerable length ensued, in which it was pointed o,ut that the inclusion of the new muni- ' cipal valuation would mean an addition, of £2720 to the amount of the borough's contribution, relieving the Awatere County Council to the I extemt of about £100 and the Wairau [Road Board about £40. i Having ruled that the Hospital Board was bound under law to provide for its levies in accordance with the data before it at the April meeting, the chairman said that he would | not accept a motion from Mr Nees i that a legal opinion be obtained as to the practicability of Mr Griffiths's suggestion. If the local bodies which desired a. readjustment cared to submit a. legal pron otmcement on the I position the Hospital Board would, jhe presumed, take further representaj tioiis into consideration; but the I Board should not, on its own initiai tive, add to the expense that had I been imposed on it in connection with the Commission. i HOSPITAL SUPPLIES. Tenders for the supplies for the enI suing year were accepted as follows^— ■ Meat, "Adams Brothers; bakery, M. 1 Costello-; milk, Mrs B. Foley; coal, William Cliing: groceries, James Benning; wines 'and spirits, James Beiy' ning; drapery, Kirkcaldie and Stains; funerals, Hodson and Patchett; ''aerated waters, Marlborough Brewery Company, Ltd.; firewood, J. H. Peter. i NURSING STAFF. ' On tflie recommendation of the matron, Misses Neilson and Bennett, having completed their three months-' probation, were appointed to the permanent staff. The action of the chairman _ and Visiting Committee in appointing Misses Kelleher and O'Neill proba-, tioners was confirmed. SCALE OF SALARIES. The Inspector-General forwarded a scale of salaries for the nursing staffs of hospitals of various capacities. He did not find it possible to lay down nuniform scale, varying a.s the hospitals did in so many ways. The scale forwarded was merely an indication ot what the Department- considered a fair recompense, taking into consideration the fact that the hospitals were largely charitable institutions and not? in any way self-supporting or worked at a profit, also taking into account tho earning capacity of nurses outside the institutions. It was pointed out that- the salaries *bf. the matron and sister in the local .institution were below the scale suggested by the Inspector-General. INfo action was taken. WOMEN AND CHILDREN. : The Inspector-General wrote <as follows:—"It has been decided that, subject to tihe approval of the Department that such appointments are necessary, a subsidy at the rate of 24s in -the £ up to £100 for each nurse will be paid by tin's Department upon voluntary contributions made by the Society for the Promotion of the Health of* Women and Children, if paid through the hospital boards of their district. This means that if a ■branch of the Society has two nurses working in a hospital district, it is entitled ix> hand the amount of £83 6s Sd in rospect of each nurse to the Hospital Board, and the Board can thorn include this in their claim for subsidy and obtain £200 subsidy thereon. I enclose forms to be used by the secretaries to the branches of tho Society in question in handing over such voluntary contributions to the Hospital Board." It wn,s.resolved that the communication be forwarded to the Society. INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

i Mi" J. Johnston, health officer, ro--1 ported tba-t five cases of infectious ; diseases were notified in the district [during last month. «s follows: B-Ip-ii-j beirn, two esses of diphtheria in one | family; Blenheim, one c;a.«? of scarlet I fever"; Pelorus, one- en so of phtiliisis ; Awate.ro, one case of cerebro-spinal meningitis. The diphtheria cases had

made a satisfactory recovery; and the phthisis and scarlet fever patients were progressing favorably.. The case of cerebro-spinal meningitis, that of an infant three months old, proved "fatal/ The last-named was a very uncommon disease, and, he under- ! stood, -this, was its first appearance in j the Board's district. - Every precauj tion had been taken by way of isolation and disinfecting. GENERAL, Messrs George Griffiths and Malier ! waited on the Board in behalf of the Opa.wa Football Club . and offered to j pay £21 10s,in full settlement of an hospital account for £48 for the treat- ! merit of a footballer who had bis spine injured in a match.— The offer was !' accepted. The. Inspector-General furnished ifae information that the population of this Board's district was estimated by !the Government-statistician as 11,828, and that the Valuer-General returned the capital value of the rateable property of the district as £5,037,237. Accounts amounting to £376 wore ! passed for payment.