Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1910. HOSPITAL BOARDS. THE NEW METHOD OF ELECTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 14 March 1910, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1910. HOSPITAL BOARDS. THE NEW METHOD OF ELECTION.

ON Wednesday will be lit Id the first election under the new Act of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board as reconstituted on an electoral basis. The old system was on the- plan of selection by a process resembling thai of the "electoral college" whereby the President of the United States is chosen. In theory and on paper in practice, local bodies, themselves directly elected by those on the municipal rolls, nominaUd some of their own members to Hit' Boards. But in actual practice the. scheme did not always work out as Iho law and its letter and spirit intended. If ol'len happened that distant bodies selected representatives who were not on any local body; while, as the periods of oilic;: in local bodies and the boards did not synchronise, members of Boards continued as such though no longer members of local bodies. The result frequently was that ths Boards were not altogether representative of the ratepayers, even on an indirect electoral basis, while, there was a tendency to drift into grooves.

Tlic new system goes to the opposite extreme. It gives the lotal bodies as such no din-ri voice in tli - choice o! representatives on the .Boards. I lie right of selection having been transferred to the municipal burgesses. The- new Beards will allocate the proportion local bodies must contribute towards hospital and charitable expenditure as in the past, but the former will be responsible and answmble not to tho bodies as members thereof but to the electors themselves. Whether the new system will work as well or ill remains to be proved. But

alr.ady there is a tendency to nominate to the Boards candidates who are already members of local bodies, or ihe members of the new Boards will graduate there for election to local bodies, and thus there may be an adjustment having virtually nearly the same ilkrl as if the Boards had been chosen by the local bodies as of yore. The new method has the. advantage of giving l ' 1( ' a much wider range of choice than previously, and of enabling them to correct any mistake they may have made by seiidin;: the wrong men to the local bodies. Moreover, the representation oi the eh dors on rating bodies is increased in a manner. In addition, the elector

now has much more interest in the Hospital and Charitable Boards than m the past, for he is enabled to constitute them according to his own views, to reelect or reject members who may be found suitable, or the reverse, and to remove from the evils of selection by open voting of Boards which have all the rating power of local bodies which are selected by the process of the seer.t ballot. That in itself is a very marked uaiii; for, ii is beyond question that many faults and defects of the old Hoards were due to the reluctance oi

local bodies under the upon vote In

change representatives when it was oli vitnis Id all that such change was desirable.

Anoiher feature of the elections to

be held on Wednesday is that women have been nominated to many of the Boards. While women have not been a success on the few occasions when they have sought and secured election tu local bodies, it is b.yoiid question that on Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards

then, is work for them to do, work that

is essentially feminine and which men have not been able to- accompli). It is not nien-ly an issue of meeting once a month and carrying on debates, in the intervening period the members of a Board that does its duty elliciently by means of sub-committees have to deal

with domestic questions, neglecie ! ilnld

reii, hospital patients, relief of distress, and numerous problems in which

women's intuition and experience and tact in their own p.'euliar sphere should prove of the utmost value if used wisely—net as a mere exercise of the "ikav woman's" right to take part in all affairs wherein men alone can administer eifectively. There is nothing that women member; of the Nelson Aid Society, for instance, do so well that cannot be done by them equally as well on the Chantable Aid Boards. But to got the Lett value of their work on tho Boards ;hen duties should be sectionised, and .heir usefulness thus eoncentriiled instead ol being dilfused. At present the appearance of female candidates for the Boards is a novelty, there are many prejudices to be overcome, and the number of women candidates is few. Bub just im proportion to that number being increased will the. value of women on the Boards be enhanced, always that on the understanding that their place on the Boards is in the working and not in the talking part. * *. * * *

Vor tlio rest, the election of the Boards is in the hands of the municipal bur susses, who for the lirst time have the opportunity of choosing members who are responsible to them directiy. By process of evolution and selection, in time the Boards may become much more throughly representative of both local bodies and ratepayers than they were in the past. But it is essential that the privilege of the franchise would be exercised with as much care and as numerously as if candidates for local bodies were being voted for. Apathy may lead to the survival of thu unlit, just as on local bodies in many instances, and hence, if the public desire to have charitable and hospital funds elliciently administered, the matter is now in their own power. The municipal franchise is well understood, and ratepayers, freeholders, and residential vote for the Hoards just ijs if a municipal eleclion was proceeding. Hence there should be no confusion, and above all it is hoped that there will be no abstention from voting.

Tins estates of 34 deceased persons came under the control of the l'ublic Trustee last month.

Among British linns the proprietors of Beechani's pills hold the premiership for expenditure in advertising (according to a London exchange). Fr 1909, it is "stated, the Beechanrbill on this score could not have been anything short of £IOO,OOO. Pears' soap comes nxet. but no figures are given. It is mentioned, however, that since the Pears people started advertising thev have disbursed "well over in pushing their commodities. Eugene Sandow is a strong man at advertising. It is said to in a common thing for him to invest a trifle like £IOOO for "one bold announcement.'' His fain-v occasionally runs to a monopoly of four pages of the Lndu "Times."

It is nrbablc that something will shortly be done to beautify sonic of the earth scars to be seen round Wellington. The- Mayor stated that the head gardener (Mr. Olen) had informal him that aq ppion Mnurqsiii .ioj 'snu.umb a\|) "clothed" for the expenditure of a very few pounds. That at Oriental Bay, for instance, could be. planted with ivy or some other suitable plant for about £3. He proposed to ask the City lieserves Committee to begin this work in April.