PALMERSTON NORTH HOSPITAL.

New Zealand Mail, 17 September 1902, Page 40 (Supplement)

PALMERSTON NORTH HOSPITAL.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

The hospital of Palmerston .North is a credit to the town and district. Opened on November 23rd, 1893, 1979 patients have been treated, an average of over 200 a year. Last year 21i.) passed through the institution. The management of the institution is excellent, and has been in the hands of the same secretary, Mr W. Kutherfurd, and the same matron, Mrs Dougherty, since its establishment. The present Board consists of Messrs S. W. Luxford (chairman), F. H. Cooke, 11. Haydon, J. G. Wilson, H. Hammond, O. C. Pleasants, W. G. Pearce, ID. Goodbehere, H. Dicken, I'. J. Nathan and J. G. .. ..aihson, all being representatives of tlie local contributing bodies. There is no resident physician, of the institution, and the patients are attended by Dr> Mclntire and Campbell. The hospital is situated on one of the finest sites in the district, being elevated and in a very healthy locality. The building stand’s in ten acres of well-kept grounds- The rate on the local bodies is one of the lowest m the colony, being on a basis of 4s 4d in the diIUOU of ratable value, a levy which covers both hospital and charitable aid expenditure. The small cost of these groat services to the district may be gauged by the fact- that the borough of Palmerston North, with its population ot over 7000 people, is called upon to pay only £i47 7s tkl. The whole institution is entirely free of debt, and at the end of last financial year the assets amounted to £oooo, which included £4700 the value of the buildings and land. The Palmerston North Hospital is one of the few (if not the solitary) instances of such institutions which has not been subsidised by reserves, and has been built and is entirely supported by the districts which it serves.