THE PRE-SESSIONAL CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22058, 14 September 1933, Page 8

THE PRE-SESSIONAL CONFERENCE

The demands of Otago upon the purse and patronage of the Government, as expressed at the pre-sessional meeting between local body and Parliamentary representatives which was held on Tuesday evening, are not extravagant. Prompt acceptance by the Government of all the proposals which were put forward would certainly, however, involve the State in a heavy and not necessarily wise expenditure. The Mayor’s suggestion for increasing the unemployment tax by 50 per cent, may bo regarded as expressive only of his individual opinion and can scarcely be accepted as representing the views of the community, and some of the other proposals advanced by various speakers might have been presented at meetings anywhere in the Dominion, since they had no particular application to Otago. The Expansion League’s pre-sessional

conferences have a definite value, however, as long as the requirements of the district are temperately stated, first in indicating to the local Members of Parliament the questions to which their constituencies attach importance, and secondly in apprising the public of the schemes that the local administrative bodies have most keenly at heart. Foremost among the needs of Dunedin was that urged by the chairman of the Otago Hospital Board. The Medical School is in the position of having obtained the services of a highly qualified obstetrician, while the means of making the fullest use of his services are lacking. The responsibility for this omission does not rest with the University or hospital authorities. The obligation to provide an up-to-date maternity hospital was accepted by the Government as long ago as 1929, when it agreed to provide £.50,000 for the purpose, together with a grant to the Hospital Board in respect of the administration of the institution for a few years. The women of New Zealand, on the strength of this undertaking, subscribed the sum which, with a Government subsidy, was sufficient to found a chair of Obstetrics. In consequence of the depression, unfortunately, the Government has not honoured its promise. The Hospital Board has now decided to acquire a site for the hospital, contingent upon the Government undertaking to provide the cost of the erection of a hospital in accordance with modified plans which will reduce the outlay by more than half. This is eminently fair, and a refusal by the Government to accept the modified scheme and a determination on its part to press, instead, for the improvement of the St. Helens Hospital, which is hopelessly obsolete, would not be in the interests of the Dominion. An anomaly in the third party insurance legislation, which was brought to notice by the Otago Motor Club, presents what may seem to be non-controversial matter for parliamentary action. As the legislation now stands, the liability of a motorist who causes the death of a third party does not devolve on his estate if he himself loses his life. It is sufficiently obvious that no such exemption was intended when the legislation was framed. The exchange of views on these and other questions which was made possible by the presessional meeting should be useful in giving the local representatives in Parliament an opportunity of planning a course of action that is not obstructed by political considerations.