INCREASING COSTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22860, 15 October 1937, Page 15

INCREASING COSTS

BOARD'S ESTIMATES UPSET -—» [from ottr own correspondent] HAMILTON, Thursday " The public institutions are drifting into debt, and those in charge do not seem to realise that before long there is going to be a day of reckoning," said Mr. W. It. Lowry at a meeting of the Waikato Hospital Board to-day, when the secretary, Mr. A. C. Burgess, reported that for the six months ended September 30. the board was about £7OOO worse off than it was for the corresponding period of last year. The secretary stated that on September 30, 1937, there was a debit balance of £5262 6s sd, while on September 30, 1936, the board had a credit balance of £1905. J T „ , The chairman, Mr. J. J : Rybtirn, Btated that against the debit the fact should be remembered that stocks in hand were £4OOO better than they were last year. All wages and costs of materials had increased well beyond the board's estimate, while the average number/of patients had increased by 34 during the year. It had been the experience of the board that the receipts were greater for the second half-year than for the first half-year.