HOSPITAL AFFAIRS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 17 January 1928, Page 2

HOSPITAL AFFAIRS

(To tha Editor)

Sir, —In reference to your report of the meeting of Nelson Hospital Board on the 11th inst., I submit that in fairness to all concerned it should be made clear to ,'the Ratepayers-, and the public genvcrasy, that after the recent exhaustive ftvesttgaiion by (be Hea|tfi Department itll '■■}§& schemes for retrenchment proposed by the chairman (Mr T. Neale) have fc'een condemned fcv 'the official experts '■ as iihpra'cticab'le—without increasing the cost of administrationnnd reducing the efficiency of the institution. The Director General of Health found nothing in the administration or management of Nelson Hospital Jhat does not compare favourably with other hospitals, After all the adverse criticism and absurd charges of extravagance that have appeared in "The Mail," your usual courtesy, sir, in publishing this.explanation, will he appreciated*.—l am, liC '' • H. G. BEItRYMAN. Koliatu, 14th January. p.S._. Rudyard Kipling tests "n. man' in the following classic lines, which seem applicable to some of your correspondents' tactics on Hospital matters, viz.: "If you can bear to hear the truths you have spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools." H.G.B. [As our correspondent's letter is an ex-parte statement based on proceedings .taken in committee)(it was submitted to Mr Thos. Neale,' chairman'of the board. Members, of all local and public', bodies, ho said, knew perfectly well that work done in committee was always to bo honoured as private. Endless trouble had been caused at-times through members of' local: bodies not honouring this attitude. In .this case it was at Dr. Valintihe's own'reauest that the board went into committee,, the : Doctor stating that lie alyvays dealt■. with such-matters., with various boards in committee. The statement by Mr Berrymah ''that after the recent exhaustive investigation," etc., was, as usual', inaccurate. The Health Department investigated one proposal of the chairman's, and could not see its way to advocate it. • The chairman himself proposed the abandonment of the scheme as the Department had not back'ed it. Mr Neale wished to express the firm conviction that he or any set of men} who; had .to find tho 'money, would very soon have made a success of his

proposal. If it were not violating the spirit, of committee work, added Mr Neale, he might well quote Dr. Valintino's own remark's on his (the chair* man's) work, which would utterly squash Mr Berryman'a attempt to still mislead and throw mud.—Ed.J