HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9144, 28 August 1888, Page 6

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

The regular meeting of this Board was held last evening. Present: Messrs. M. Niccol (in the chair), Crowther, Atkin, Cooper, Dignan, Udy, Ambury, and Sturges.

Elections of Members. —To fill the vacancies caused by the resignations of Messrs O. Mays and W. F. Buckland, Mr. Mr. W. T. J. Bell was nominated by the Waitemata and Rodney Counties in place of Mr. Mays, and Mr. C. C. Fleming was nominated by Onehunga. Both these gentlemen were elected. Permanent Chairman.—The next business was the «lection of a permanent chairman. Mr. Niccol proposed Mr. E. Cooper to fill the office for the remainder of the year. Mr. Crowther seconded the motion. Mr. Cooper said he would not object to fill the office, but if elected he should ask that the evening of the meeting be changed, as he would not be able to attend regularly on this night. Mr. Atkin and Mr. Crowther thought it would be unwise to make a change, as in case Mr. Cooper was not able to attend on' any night they could appoint a substitute. It was then agreed to elect Mr. Cooper to the position of chairman. Mr. Cooper then took the chair, and thanked the Board for the honour conferred on him, and said Jjo would perforin the duties of the office to the best of his ability. Reports.The report of the House Surgeon was as follows : —umber of patients at last return, 65 males, 2i females ; admitted, 19 males, 8 females ; deaths, 3 males,' 1 female ; discharged, '22 males, 8 females ; remaining at date, 59 males, 23 females. The reports of the lady superintendent and house steward were also received ; also the reports of the master and matron of the Refuges. House Committee. —This committee reverted —Re Elizabeth McShane : That she be sent to the Sanatorium, Rotorua. Re F. Shea: Case to be retained in the Refuge, and to be treated by Dr. Beale and Dr. Lindsay. Committee recommend that if such provision does not already exist a rule should be made providing that clothes and effects of destitute persons dying in the Refuges become the property of the Board for the purposes of the institution. This latter clause arose out of the circumstances that a patient had died in the Refuge, and another had taken his effects. The report was adopted, and the Chairman instructed to draft a rule, to be submitted to next meeting. Unfit Subjects for the Asylum.—Dr. McGregor, under date Wellington, August 14, wrote that Colonel Haultain, the Deputy Inspector, in his last report on that institution, made the following statement:—"Three of these inmates were sent from the Refuge because they have no sufficient means in that institution for patients who require any supervision or control, but they ought not to be in a lunatic asylum, obliged to mix with maniacs, for they are harmless to themselves and others, and Win only suffer by remaining here." The Colonial Secretary trusts that the Board will take this question into consideration. Colonel Haultain was written to by the secretary of the Charitable Aid Board, asking him to give the names of the persons referred to in his remarks, and replied, " I have the honour to inform you that I have not kept a note of their names, but the persons alluded to were those recently sent from the Refuge. Should this explanation not be sufficiently explicit, and you inform me accordingly, I will visit the Asylum again for the purpose of obtaining the names." It transpired that those three patients were examined by two medical gentlemen unconnected with the honorary medical staff. There were two men and one woman, and Dr. Giles was the committing magistrate. It was agreed to inform Dr. Macgregor accordingly, and that the Board did not, under the circumstances, see their way to interfere. Another Unfit Case.Colonel Haultain brought under the notice of the Board the case of Mrs. Clifton, who had been committed to the Asylum about the beginning of July, by the authority of the Resident Magistrate, on the certificates of Drs. Purchas and Davy, and added, "This poor woman having appealed to me on my visiting the Asylum, in a very rational and urgent manner, I was led to make enquiries into the particulars of her case, and 1 have ascertained that though she in of .weak intellect, and has been so for years, yet that she is quite harmless, and might be safely lodged anywhere. She has been living with her son, a grocer, in Ponsonby, up to the time of his leaving for Sydney, when unwilling to take her with him, and as she had no other relatives able to support her, he got her placed in the Asylum. Under the circumstances I think that the Board will be willing to place her in the Refuge, or if proper accommodation is not available there that 1 they will board her out with some respectable person, to whom she would, I believe, be rather an assistance than a trouble. I may add that Dr. Cremonini is also of opinion that she is not a proper subject for a lunatic asylum." In reply to this the secretary wrote that the Board did not see their way to interfere in Mrs. Clifton's case, and Colonel Haultain wrote again, reiterating his former reasons, and asking the Board to reconsider their decision, adding, " For I am sure that the poor woman is suffering grievously from the loss of her liberty, and from her association with lunatics, and that her weakness of intellect will be aggravated, and her life shortened, unless she is removed from the Asylum." Mr. Dijjnan said what the committee thought was if she was not a fit subject for an asylum, she should be discharged, and then, being destitute, this Board must provide for her. It was agreed to reply to Colonel Haultain endorsing the reply of the committee, that it was not a case of destitution, and that, on inquiry, it was found that Mrs. Clifton was unfit to be at large. Refuge Site.—The Secretary reported having purchased the One-tree Hill site at £25 a-year. His action was endorsed. A telegram was received from Mr. Goldie re the Ellerslie site, that the Bill had passed without amendment.

The New Refuge.—Mr. Niccol said that they had postponed the discussion of this subject owing to the appointment of new members. He regretted they were not firesent. He moved : —" 1. That the resoution adopted on 2nd July, 1888, pledging the Board to build on the site selected by the committee of experts be rescinded. 2. That the report of the Refuge Committee, received by the Board on 21st May, be adopted." (This recommended the erection of the building on the Hospital site.) He moved it in two parts. Trie experts were divided in opinion, and the doctors were unanimous in favour of the Hospital site, but he merely mo/ed that the obligation to build on the Epsom Bite might be done away with. The objection to it was that it was not large enough, or better adapted for gardening than the present site. What was wanted was not so much a change of site as a change of system, and the great objection to going into the country was that they would lose a great deal of control over the Refuges. or this reason he thought the Board should rescind the motion to build on the Epsom site. Mr. Atkin seconded the motion. He would refrain from making any remarks, as a great deal had already been said on the subject. What they lacked was action. Mr. Udy also agreed that the whole subject had'been threshed out, and they could simply vote for or against it. The motion was then put and carried, Mr. Sturgesand Mr. Udy voting againstit. Mr. Niccol then moved the second part of his motion. He read the report of the committee, which has already been published It was pointed out by the chairman and others that the legal opinion obtained was to the effect that they could not erect refuges on this site, as it was an hospital endowment. Mr. Crowther said they could place on record their opinion as to which was the most suitable site, and then they could approcach the trustee and consult him as to what should be done. After which there was a good deal of discussion as to how the matter was to be made legal. The Chairman suggested adding the words, "and that it be carried into effect as soon as the Board has the legal right to erect on the Hospital site." Mr. Niccol said that if they affirmed the desirability of erecting on the Hospital grounds they might consult their solicitor, or ask the trustee to put up the site for auction. They might, at all events, go the length of affirming the desirability of erecting the refuge on this site. He moved the adoption of the clauses of the report affirming the desirability of erecting the

refuges •on the Hospital site. Mr. Atkin seconded the motion and spoke in support of it. The motion was then put and carried, Mr. Sturges voting against it. Mr. Niccol then moved, " That the Public Trustee be informed that doubt has arisen as to the legality of building an old people's refuge on the Hospital enclosure, alongside the building now used for that purpose, and he be asked to take steps to grant a lease to the Board of part of the Hospital grounds, in order that the Board, as tenants of his, may be enabled to erect a building for present uses as a refuge, but with a vi>w to such building being hereafter used as an adjunct to the Hospital, when required for that purpose." This motion was seconded by Mr. Abkin and carried. Accounts.—Current accounts were passed for payment.