COMMITTED FOR TRIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20638, 9 February 1929, Page 2

COMMITTED FOR TRIAL.

ALLEGED FALSE EVIDENCE,

(Per United Press Association.)

DANNEVIRKE,' February 8.Arising out of a recent civil action' James Humphreys, a painter and labourer,- was committed to the Supreme Court for trial on a charge of making a 'statement knowing it to be false and intended to mislead the court.

The accused alleged that he had made two payments of £SO each in connection with a building contract and that a friend was present when the second £SO was paid. This was denied by the friend, who said that the accused had asked him prior to the civil action to swear that he saw the accused paying £SO in notes for which he received a receipt. The friend had declined to do this as it would have been false.

the erection of screens is not sufficient. What is required are a few private wards, similar to those which afe being provided in other centres, where patients may receive private treatment by paying a little extra charge. It is the absence of these wards, coupled with the combination of the medical fraternity, that, is compelling many persons to go into private hospitals, where they have to pay “ through the nose,” or go to Dunedin., The present system, whicli permits struggling people to be shockingly exploited, should not be tolerated for one day longer than is absolutely necessary.' —I am. etc., _ ■ „ , H. M'Quvde. Oatnatru, February 7.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir—One cannot fail to be somewhat surprised at recent correspondence res pocting the Oamaru Hospital. As in most other correspondence, the statements are somewhat conflicting, and, so far as Mr H, M'Quade is concerned, contradictory as well. Mr M'Quade accuses the board of excessive expenditure, and in the same letter asks why private wards are not available. Further, he asserts that the hospital is not open to the public. Well, that may be so, but such men as a deputy chairman of a county council and a manager of one of the leading stock and station agencies have of recent years been able to exert enough influence to secure a bed in the institution in addition to, at various times during the past winter, as many as 80 other patients from various parts of North Otago. Mr M'Quade accuses the board of being completely dominated by the British Medical Association. Rather a bold assertion for a man who allowed himself to bo cajoled into a private institution by one individual member of that association. One is naturally led to believe that Mr M'Quade is not quite such a strong personality after all, and that the sarcasm in the letter by “ Ratepayer ” is too deeply veiled to be readily observed by the casual reader. Why, in any case, should he abuse the Oamaru Public Hospital because of treatments he himself has received elsewhere?—l am. etc., P. A. R.