WAIKATO HOSPITAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21983, 14 December 1934, Page 17

WAIKATO HOSPITAL

REPRESENTATION ON) BOARD OBJECTION TO ALTERATIONS [from our owir correspondent] HAMILTON, Thursday Criticism of the Department ..of Health's proposed alteration in local body representation on the Waikato Hospital Board on the basis of the latest available returns of population and rateable capital valuations was expressed by members of the board at its meeting in Hamilton to-day. The proposed revised apportionment, of representation gives the Waipa and Waikato counties and Hamilton borough two members each; the Piako, Raglan and Matamata counties one each, and the following groups of local bodies one each:— Kawhia County, Otorohanga County and Otorohanga town district; Taupo County, Taupo road district and Rotorua County; Rotorua borough and Putaruru town district; Matamata town district and Te Aroha, Morrinsville, Ngaruawahia and Huntly boroughs; Cambridge borough and Leamington town district; Te Awamutu and Te Kuiti boroughs. Mr. J. Price said the proposal was one of the worst which could be put forward. The suggested combination, for instau«e, of Matamata town district and Te Aroha and Huntly boroughs, would mean that the member would have no hope of keeping in touch with the whole area. The result would be that certain districts would have no representation at all. Many of the towns would be better linked up with the adjoining county rather than with other towns a considerable distance away. The chairman, Mr.-J. J. Ryburn, said the question was purely one of franchise. The fact'of having a Parr liamentary franchise in th© towns and a ratepayers' franchise in the counties was responsible for the inequalities of the present system. The best method of overcoming the difficulty would be to make the county franchise a residential one. One of the main disadvantages of the new scheme was the distance between several of the grouped districts. - , ' . The board passed a resolution object' ing to the grouping of local bodies as set out by the department until the franchise was altered to allow of the same basis in town districts, boroughs and counties in the one group.