HOSPITAL AND CHARITABL AIDE REPORT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2003, 14 July 1892, Page 8

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABL AIDE REPORT.

(Fhom Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, July 7. In his annual report on Hospitals and Charitable Institutions, Dr Macgregor points out that the adoption of the principal of legal compulsion in regard to tho support of charitable institutions has caused the sense of personal duty in the matter to becomo almost extinct. In the year before tho Hospitals Act was passed Otago raised L 3242 by voluntary subscriptions, and Canterbury LllOO. This year Otago has raised L 203 and Canterbury L 29. Ihe necessity of reform in the whole present system is strongly insisted upon. Dr Macgregor is convinced that so long as the local administration of outdoor relief is able, as at present, to get half ils cohts from the colonial revenue, idlers and drunkaids will abborb a large proportion of what is meant for the victims of weakness and calamity, and resj>ectable men and women, worn out with toil and old age, will bo thrust aside by impudent beggars. Ho thinks that pauper children should not be boarded out with persons themselves in receipt of charitable aid, but that they should be boarded out in the country, and under a thorough system of visitation. The inspector also pleads for a more generous system of provision for the aged and deserving poor. His idea is that "respectable poor ought not to be treated in the same way as thriftles3 spongers and brokendown drunkards, but rather as wornout soldiers who have deserved well of their country," and that '.' our unjust system of distributing the proceeds of labour must compel society to face the duty of making such provision for deserving old age as shall not involve any sacrifice of self-respect in accepting it." He commends the new Danish system, under which respectable and deserving persons are admitted at the age of 60 as State pensioners under strict conditions of character and good record. Dr Macgregor considers that the establishment of a- Labour, Bureau marks a new departure in ' simplifying and making more manageable the problem of poverty. He remarks that the Charitable Institutions Act of 1885 has fixed in the popular mind, especially in the minds of those who are not of the self-reliant class, the belief that they have a right to a living whether they work or not. Dr Macgregor reports that the old people's refuges at Invercargill, Dunedin, Ashburton, Christchurch, Napier, and Auckland have <dl been inspected and found to be well and carefully managed. Reporting on the Dunedin Hospital, Dr Macgregor says : — " The opening of the new nurses' home, an admirably designed aud_ commodious building, marks a new departure in the history of this institution. . The wholo of the nursery department has been completely reorganised under Miss Mawo, an experienced nurse imported from England. At the date of my last visit this change was just being arranged for, the new matrou had not arrived, but I expect to find at my next inspection that many improvements have been effected. The two great objections urged against this hospital by the local reformers were the old-fashioned nursing system and the unsuitable character of the building. With the completion of the new wards now in course of construction both these causes of complaint will has'e disappeared, and I hope to see this hospital take its natural position at the head of tho hospital system of the colony. Its position as the centre of the medical education system gives it an importance belonging to none of our other institutions. The system of local government established under our Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act does not seem to meet the requirements of the Dunedin medical school, but surely it is not too much to hope that the interests concerned will somehow combine to agree on some scheme for embodiment in the new bill which must soon come before the public. The mere fact of the existence of the colonial medical, school in Dunedin must involve the gathering thither of interesting and difficult cases from all ports of the colony, and the local ratepayers will be blind indeed if they hesitate to make any sacrifice required to make this a thoroughly efficient institution. I observe the daily cost per head has risen to 4s 5d as compared with 3s lOd la6t year. This is

accounted for by a rise of L 56 for fuel and light, and L 606 under the head of other expenses, of which tho chief items wore : — Bedsteads L 212 10s, hon. medical staff (student's fees) LllO ss, refund of matron's passage L4O, architect's fees L2O, cleaning dust bins, &c, L 22 0s 3d, wages(cleaning ward, relieving staff for holidays, &c.\ LBB 15s 6d."