HOSPITAL LEVY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 135, 8 May 1928, Page 2

HOSPITAL LEVY

PROTEST BY BOROUGH COUNCIL. “AN ALARMING INCREASE.” .f REPRESENTATIONS TO MINISTER “That an emphatic protest be sent to tho Minister in charge of hospitals against the enormously increased levies made by tho Palmerston Hospital Board, and that the Government be requested to introduce legislation in order to put some check on hospital expenditure throughout the Dominion,” was the text of a resolution carried by the Borough Council last night after tv full discussion on the subject of hospital levies.”

The matter was raised by tho receipt of a letter from the Pamerston North Hospital Board forwarding particulars of it sestimates for the current year, together with the levies on the various local bodies. The statement showed an estimated increase of £4973 8s Id over the whole of the district in respect of this year’s maintenance levy and capital expenditure. The amount which the council was called on to pay was £5208 13s Bd, against £4029 Os 5d last year. The increase in the levy, it was stated by tho writers, was occasioned by an increase in maintenance and aministration expenses, erection of the maternity home, .expenditure in connection with the Otaki Hospital, and increased expenditure in regard to charitable aid. “A SERIOUS MATTER.” “It is very alarming to find us faced with an increased subsidy of £1200,” stated Cr. Eliott in opening the discussion. The matter, he proceeded, was one requiring serious consideration. Unfortunately, the borough had no direct representation' on the board, arid it seemed to him a great fault in the Act that those bodies which had to find a great deal of the money had no say in the expenditure of it. In liis opinion, the matter should be the subject of representations to the Municipal Conference. A remit, stated the Mayor, had come before the last conference and had been passed and sent on to the Government, but what would come of it he did not know.

Cr. Eliott pointed out that, although it had three hospitals to maintain, the AVairarapa Board had been able to make a decrease this year in its levies. Other boards, however, had seen fit to make increases. Cr. Fitzhcrbert commented that, in regard to the local board’s levies; there was an increase of 25 per cent, on all contributory local bodies. He thought that the increase required some exand that the sooner the council was represented on the board the better.

Among tho new work that was proposed by the board, said the Mayor, was a surgical block estimated to cost £IB,OOO.

Cr Mansford: My contention is that the hospitals are becoming more popular and a better class of people are going to them, despite the fact that they were originally intended for the poor. I think also, that more fees should be collected than is at present being done. In 1916-17 our contribution was £IOSB and in 1927-28, £4209, an increase of £3151, equalling 297 per cent. COMPAR A'JTA'E FIGURES. Cr Mansford then gave the following comparisons, per occupied bed, between the Palmerston North and AVan-

“Tiie fees received per bed,” said Cr Mansford, “are:. AVanganui £SB 7s; Palmerston North £53 7s. Fees outstanding on March 31, 1920, were: AVanganui £11,399 and Palmerston North £38,042; fees written off during the year ending March 31, 1927, were: Wanganui .04760, Palmerston North £11,251; fees outstanding at March 31, 1927, AVanganui £18,765, Palmerston North £37,690.

“The fees written off,” continued Cr Mansford, “represent 1.73 s of the AVanganui Hospital Board population as against 4.13 s for Palmerston North, which surely does not represent the relative prosperity of the patients. In salaries and wages, we are £IO.B higher than AVanganui and even after allowing AVanganui the exceptional expenditure in the establishment of £22 per bed against our £6, they beat us by practically £6 per bed. At present tho taxation . throughout the country is staggering and it is high time that the Government’s attention is drawn to the fact.” INCREASING TAXATION.

Cr Clausen: 1 think that some protest should be entered. Taxation is increasing by leaps and bounds and beyond all reason. To my mind, there is too much lavish expenditure.

Cr Tremaine: I am of the opinion that the small amount of fees collected shows a lack of energy. Out of £20,000 at present on the Hospital Board books, 1 am certain that at least 15 to 20 per cent could be collected without effort and it would go a long way towards reducing this heavy taxation. 1 think a lot escape payment not because they have not the means, but because they are not forced to pay.

Cr Canton : I have had experience with several hospitals and have not yet been able to escape payment. However, the present levy calls for an emphatic protest and 1 support the motion. 1

Cr. Eliott: In answer to Cr. Mansford, 1 must say that the amount collected by the Palmerston North board is nearly £IO,OOO more than the amount collected by the AVairarapa board. Cr. Milverton: I do not think that it is right to erect a maternity home and I think that the matter should have been left to private enterprise. NOT THE FIRST PROTEST. The Mayor: This is not the first occasion on which the council lias protested and, until we get direct representation on tho boards, I do hot think that we will achieve much good in the matter.

Cr. Eliott’s motion was then carried

ganui Hospitals:— Wang. P.N. Provisions £34.2 £33.6 Surgery and dispensary 11.4 12.S Domestic 27.8 34.7 Establishment 22.1 5.1 Salaries and wages 72.1 82.9 Miscellaneous .7 — Mainetnance of special departments 2,6 6.5