North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1906. THE OAMARU HOSPITAL.

North Otago Times, 13 January 1906, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1906. THE OAMARU HOSPITAL.

The Oamaru Hospital is one of the 5 model institutions of the Mud in the colony, and wo need look no further for proof of this assertion than Dr Macgrcgor's annual reports on the Hospitals of the Colony. The institution has never had an indificrcnl report, hut always a good one, and locally we know with what assiduity and care the Trustees, and especially the Chairman (Mr Mainland) have attended to all the details that have impressed on Dr Macgrcgor the truthfulness ot the remark that it is the model institution of the kind in the colony. The Hospital has endowmcnls, and on the return from these and p. the exercise of prudence in its management it has been able to store up something for a rainy day. That something s " is now, however, a vanishing quantity. r j The growth'of the community lias forced '.' the Trustees to add to the accommodation and the conveniences the institution re is expected to afioril, and this lias only tailed an expenditure that threatens to absorb all its surplus funds. The Trus- , tecs, realising this, appeal to the public e3 for more liberal contributions so as to " keep off the rates." The request is a laudable one, hut we have before ex- *' pressed the opinion that in coming on the rates the Trustees would be but forcing on all an equality of sacrifice »e which in the meantime docs not exist. >y Only a few contribute, and these few ' d generally give to everything, while others, equally as able, contribute noD. thing, in some instances because they arc never asked, and in others because they ko will not. It therefore appears to us that the principle of the equality ot sacrifice in relation to the Hospital is the fairest method of maintaining its usefulness, although in saying so we have to express an opinion in opposition to the gentlemen who have made it the " model institution of the colony,'' 1 If would no doubt he more satisfactory if the institution co,uld be conducted en the lines that have cnab,cd it to attain to its present proud position, but if tiie list t of contributors cannot be materially ex- ' tended it would be advisable to let it " come on the rates." The Trustees are in the position of those gravitating toI, wards the workhouse—they dread the final step ; but after all, when it is taken, their fears are never realised. However, in saying this we have no desire y to interfere with the aspirations of the Trustees, who have had the experience, and who have given a gasit deal of their time and business abilities to the 3. work of managing the institution in a way that obviously no other similar institution in the colony is managed, But 3r the contributing public will have to dive ig deeper into their pockets, and a much it larger number will have to do so than "' heretofore if the Hospital is to exist '* without " coming oil the rates,"