THE HOSPITAL AND THE LEVY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19952, 22 May 1928, Page 14

THE HOSPITAL AND THE LEVY.

Sir, —The increase in the amount of the levy to be made upon ratepayers by tha Hospital Board has brought expressions of protest from nearly every local body concerned. The levy is in a special rate based upon the capital value of all rateable property, quite irrespective of the income of the ratepayer. A ratepayer with £IOOO worth of rateable property, with an income barely sufficient to live upon, and with the said property heavily mortgaged, has to pay the sam» tax as a wealthy person, drawing income from securities, with a property free from encumbrance of the same valuation. Certainly the wealthy owner pays, indirectly, through the income tax, toward the subsidy which Government grants toward the upkeep of the hospital. To quote one instance locally (and I could quote several), a widow with a small farmlet, from which she barely makes a living, has to pay a larger hospital rate than an adjoining owner in very comfortable circumstances, whose house and section is valued lower than the farmlet. The levy bears heavily upon the country ratepayer, as in the country the holdings must he larger, and, although valued highly for rating purposes, are not nearly so valuable commercially. When the hospital is required the city dweller has a splendid ambulance service at his disposal, free of cost, and has, otherwise, every facility for making use of the hospital. The country patient has to use an. expensive taxi service or the railway train. He therefore uses the hospital only under the most compelling circumstances. When he does use the hospital, the country patient generally pays his fees. The poor and needy of the city comprise the bulk of the non-paying patients. The Hospital Board seems to have unlimited borrowing powers. I think it should be placed under the same restrictions as those imposed upon local bodies by the Local Bodies Loans Act. As the ratepayer has to find nearly half the money required he should have some say in the matter. The Government maintains and administers the mental hospitals and gaols. Why not general hospitals ? Relief figures largely in the Hospital Board's expenditure, and the large increases of late years have doubtless been caused by unemployment. Relief of those that will not work, those that cannot get work, and of those incapable of working, should be a matter for the Government, and the cost borne by the taxpayer, not the ratepayer. During a tour of the world last year I saw many hospitals, in many centres, and I think the Auckland Hospital compares verj favourably with any. I quite agree with the board's policy of building well and with an eye to the future, providing that due economy is observed in seeing tha\ full value is secured for the money expended. I would like to see more provision made for the country patient, and think that, at present, the provision of 8 good, up-to-date ambulance in selected centres would meet requirements. A. H. Tapper, Tuakau, May 21, 1928.