WHAT IS A HOSPITAL

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7979, 9 December 1911, Page 7

WHAT IS A HOSPITAL

THE GENERIC TERM. BY CUSTOM EXEMPT FROM RATES. u Is a homo for the aged needy a hospital?" was a question submitted to hie Honor tho Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) last week and answered by him yesterday. . , _ Tho 'Wellington Hospital Board, as owner of tho lands in Epuni street, Wellington, on. which tho Ohiro Benevolent Home is erected, applied to the court for a declaratory judgment deciding whether the hoard is liable to pay rntes to tho council in respect of such lands and promises. By a demand mado on August 15th, 1910, the council sought to obtain from tho board .£39 8s Id for rates, being the first of two equal instalments for tho year ending March 3hst, 1911. Tho institution was formerly vested in, contributors to tho Wellington Benevolent Distitution. It is now controlled by tho Hospital Board and is used to provide a refuge for such aged people of both soxes as aro in needy circumstances. Inmates of the homo are treated froo of charge by tho board’s permanent medical staff, and, if their health requires it, aro removed to tho general hospital, where they aro attended free of charge. Mr AY. F. Ward appeared for the Hospital Board, and Mr J. O’Shea, city solicitor, for tho City Council. In his judgment his Honor said that tho point for decision was whether the institution in question camo within tho scope of certain exemptions—"public asylum, hospital or lighthouse." Gcnerically tho home was a hospital, but specifically it was a charitable institution for tho relief of tho aged and needy. Seeing that no rates had been paid on the property for seventeen years it must be taken that the municipal authorities had acquiesced in regarding it as coming within tho scope of tho exemptions. The decision wonld therefore be that tho institution was not liable for payment of rates.