HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS:

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4740, 23 August 1902, Page 5

HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS:

The annual report on the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions of the colony was laid upon the table of the House at 2 o’clock this morning. It shows that the total cost of administration of charitable aid in 1901 was 1179,873, while for 1902 it amounted to JEBB.B4B—an increase of .£8975. The amount distributed in outdoor relief in 1899 (the year in which tho Old Ago Pension Act came into force) was .£50,850; in 1901, .£42,181; and in the year ending March, 1902, it showed a decrease to £37,453. The Otago Benevolent Institution, the Costley Homo (Auckland), and the Cavorsham Homo (Dunedin) are all adversely criticised, the two latter having ‘'sacrificed comfort for economy.” The management of the Ohiro Home (Wellington) is spoken of as being thoroughly satisfactory. The assistant inspector again declares that "it is a painful experience to visit tho Napier Old Men’s Home.” Two new hospitals were opened in the colony during the year—one at Pabiatua and one at Whangarei. The report mentions that the wards of the Wellington Hospital are terribly overcrowded. It urges that stretchers down the centre of the rooms should not bo permitted. Dr Ewart and Miss Payne, the renort concludes, aro snccesfnf in their efforts to make the hospital and its staff thoroughly efficient.