FREE AMBULANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 190, 13 July 1936, Page 9

FREE AMBULANCE.

DISCUSSION AT LEVIN. HOItOAVHENUA COUNTY COUNCIL. Further correspondence in regard to the Palmerston North Free Ambulance came before the Horowhenua County Council at their monthly meeting at Levin, on Saturday. The superintendent and secretary (Mr C. L. Turnbull) forwarded a copy of a letter from Mr F. llotte, superintendent and secretary of the Wellington Free Ambulance, and asked that the council give assistance toward establishing m this district a service similar to that in vogue in AVelhngton. “There were no difficulties connected with the new arrangement,’’ .-taied superintendent Roffe, in dealing with the transfer of the Wellington Hospital Board’s ambulance service to the Wellington Free Ambulance. “AVe undertook to take over tlie responsibilities of the Hospital Board ill regard to all ambulance transport work and they agreed to make an annual grant of LJUUO to the new service, this amount being reduced to £BOO during the slump. Apart from this the Hospital Board gave us a new ambulance chassis. We have been able to satisfy the Hospital Board in every respect, and the opinion has been expressed on more than one occasion at our board meetings by the Hospital Board representatives that ‘on no consideration would they revert to the old method again.’ ”

The chairman (Cr. G. A. Monk) said it was true that there was no law calling on a hospital board to •provide an ambulance service—but that applied only where there was another satisfactory service in existence. AVliere that was not so, the board had to provide the service. A conference had been held between the Palmerston North Free Ambulance and the Minister of Health (Hon. P. I'raser) at which the managing-secretary of the Palmerston North Hospital Board (Mr A. J. Phillipps) had been present, as all had seen in the Press. AVhat would be the actual result of that had yet to be seen. Cr. C. P. Jensen said it was a pity that the Free Ambulance and the Hospital Board could not agree. There was needless overlapping at the present time. He thought that the burden of. hospital rates could possibly be lightened if the Free Ambulance had sole charge of the ambulance work.

Until the Hospital Board saw fit to change their present opinion he would not state his views on the matter, remarked Cr A. J. Gimblett. However, lie would like to sec the better service of the two maintained. The chairman explained that it had never been suggested that the Free Ambulance had started in Palmerston North owing to the inefficiency of the Hospital Board’s service. AAliat lie did not like was that there were collectors in tlie district soliciting contributions who were paid for their work. They received a percentage of the amount they collected. ’That meant increased costs. The Free Ambulance had been started, he understood, by private enterprise in Palmerston North in the first case. One of the biggest drawbacks to the Free Ambulance was its unsatisfactory financial position. Cr F. J. Ryder moved that the letter ho received, and this course was followed.

POHANGINA COUNTY’S ATTITUDE

Seeking assistance in establishing a similar service in the Palmerston North Hospital Board’s district, the Palmerston North Free Ambulance, in a letter received by the Pohangina County Council, on Saturday, forwarded an outline of the methods under which the Wellington Free Ambulance Service operates in that city, where it has taken over the ambulance service.

Cr. W. Howell stated that if local -bodies supported the proposal they would be expected to assist financially, in which case the position would be that the ambulance service would still be a charge on the ratepayers. It had been stressed that the hospital board’s service required two new vehicles, but these would be required, no matter which body controlled the service. The letter was received.