HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8988, 28 February 1888, Page 6

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

DEPUTATION FROM THE SEAMEN'S

UNION. A meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board was to have been held last evening, but lapsed for want of a quorum. At the commencement there were present: Messrs. O. Mays (Chairman), C. Atkin, R. Udy, P. Dignan, and S. T. George. This was not sufficient to constitute a quorum, and after waiting for half-an-hour for another member to turn up, Messrs. George and Atkin retired, subsequently Messrs. Crowthor and Sturgess came in, but there was still no quorum. As, however, a deputation from the Seamen's Union was in attendance, the members present decided to hear their request. The deputation consisted of Mr. Ellison (secretary), and Messrs. Nixon and Burgess, members of the Union.

Mr. Ellison, who officiated as spokesman, said that the Union had opened negotiations with the Board in August last, relative to the Union obtaining the right, on payment of a Certain amount per annum, to nave their members admitted to the hospital. The sum then offered was £15, but they wore now prepared to offer £25. Since their last offer, they had communicated with the Seamen's Unions of Dunedin and Wellington, to learn the arrangements made in these ports. In Dunedin they paid £50 a year, and any member was admitted to the hospital free, except in the case of men meeting with accidents on board, and those, of course, the owners had to pay for. In Wellington things were worked on a different system. There they paid £10 a year, which entitled 14 members to be treated as outdoor patients, or 20 would be admitted as indoor patients at lower than the ordinary scale of charges. In Dunedin they had 250 members. In Auckland they had only 150, or an average of 125, and to make up the fund they proposed to levy 2s 6d per annum per member, and any person not paying that contribution would _ not be eligible for admission to the Hospital. In answer to the chairman and members, the deputation stated that they had 400 members enrolled, but only 150 frequenting this port. Any colonial-born man was eligible to be a member of the Union, but no others, unless they held a discharge from a colonial vessel; but they had none other than seamen on their books at present, except two colonial boys, who were employed as trimmers. Shore members had to contribute one shilling a month, and those who went to sea 2s per month. The native-born boys only joined in order that they might take service as trimmers or greasers under tho auspices of the Union, and in order that they might work themselves up. They offered £25 for one year, and expected to be able to continue it, and promised to furnish a lift of members, Finally the deputation was requested to forward a copy of the Union's rules, and were informed that they would receive an answer as early as possible ; also, that the members could not deal with the matter now, there not being a quorum of the Board present. ___________