THE AUCKLAND HOSPITAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12523, 16 March 1904, Page 6

THE AUCKLAND HOSPITAL.

. / TO TUT! ?.DITOR. • > : . <' . Sir,ln your issue of the llih iust., under the heading of the New_ Zealand Hativcs 5 Association, it is stated that " a deputation v waited on Mr.l G. •>. Garland, chairman". of the Hospital Board, in the interest of .Nov? Zealanders, with reference to the. recent resolution passed by that body, to apply to ; • Melbourne • for; a. medical man .to fill tlio vacancy" of house physician at the General Hospital.'; . The report goes on ,to state that.l said that prior appointments from V Dunedin had not given satisfaction. ; What I did say was that " several appointments had 1 been madolrom Dunedin in years past, and many of. the men had given every satisfaction, but it had not always been so. The Board felt it to bo. its duty to obtain the very best men they could, and for three or four years they had obtained their young men from Melbourne. I also said- I was given to understand that greater facilities were obtainable for students in Melbourne than in , V Dunedin. But I did not in any way discount - the Dunedin students, which the lady members of the association, who waited on. me, appear.to have inferred, and I should be the last man on, the Hospital Board to. go outside the colony for assistants when- better men could be got from Dunedin. The Board ' are after' the-very best- men . they can get, . without any regard to where they come from. That has been the policy of the Board for years; it has received the-approval of those who elect the Board, and by. far the greater part of the medical . profession. It .is a policy which I hope will be guarded carefully by any Board, who may-succeed this one. Th& general public have confidence in that policy, and it is one which it will not be very easy to change. . If Dunedin can send us : the best, men from Dunedin. they most certainly should come; but no sentimentality should bo allowed to influence the Board, and rip to now it has not. ". My only cbjeofc in writing this letter is that any medical , : men who have graduated at Dunedin University may clearly understand that., uv the action of the Board, or in the interview with the Natives' Association, there is not the least intention to' discount Dunedin.— am, etc., Geo tig e ,T. Garland, Chairman Auckland Hospital Board. March 11, 1904.