HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 21

HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

ANNUAL REPORT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, September 11.

The most important and iuteresliug passage in the report of Dc MncG«igor, inspector, upon tho hospitals aud charitable institutions of the colony, t?bitd to-day, is that which foreshadows the leading proviiions of the new Charitable Aid Bill, which has iob yet beea circulated. Therein it is declared that the St.ite shall provide homes for those who are destitute from old age, chronic illue'S, or calamity, and for the chronic unomployed, the drunkard, and the "«b!o bodied, uuorganianble reiiduum generally " peoiteutiaries whore they ehonld be made to work. This redical reform, it ia calculated, will reduce the cost of the existing system by one-half, and correspondingly enable benevolont organisations to deal more generously with the deserving poor; while in order to induce the local bodies to give their support, it is provided that all tbe obildren maintained by the charitable aid boards shall be taken over entirely by the Education deportment Dr MncGrogor pays a high tribute to the capacity of Mrs Neill, formerly inspector of factories, who soiue lime since w&a appointed nssiftimfc inspector of hospitals, asylums, and charitable aid. The following, with some abridgement, is the re-port-in- obidf :—: — The total expenditure on hc-apitals for last )e*r was £91,168 14-3 lid, agninsfc £87,060 19a 7d for the previous year, an inert a<>e of £4107 15i 4d. Deducting the cost of new buildiug^ and additions, the expenditure was £79,031 14s 6d, as compared with a sim lar expenditure for the previoue year of £75,258 16s 2d, an increase of of £3772 8< 4d There was an iuc«e*se of 579 in the number of patients treated last year, with ad>croa!-eof lls 4d per head iv the average dfci'y co»t. The average amount per bend received for maintenance of patifints last year was. :— Auckland, £2 2s 7d ; Caristchurch, 5s lOd ; Dunedin, 18» 3d ; Wellington, 13i lid. The total expenditure last year for charitable aid was £86,555 8a 6d, as against £76,616 14s 9d for the previous year — en increaee of £9938 13d 9d. Of this increase £5300 may be put down on account of th« jpecul tffo'ts made f->L' the iel : of of the unemployed iv Wellington, Ciiristchuicb, and Duuedin. Owing to the couUuued depression, I expect a very great increaee under this bend for the current; year ; iadeed, it h*s become a mnt'-er of much anxiety how we can wcau the local lo lu-h from their way of iDcreHsing the charitable aid votes. The toUl expenditure on hospital and charitable aid was £177,724 3i sd, as rowptnd with £163,677 14s 4<i f^r the pre/k'U5 year, being an increase of £14,046 9a Id. •' Tbe Pn 8 nt Asp*ct<<f the Problem of Poverty ia New Zealand Coisidered Historically. — This problem, so far as New Zealand is concerned, I have frrqaoutly referred to. In my report for 1692 I explained its evolution from proviucial times in order to make clear how iuextricably it* solution ia bound up with the coneo'id&tiou of lccul government. I have long held the opinion that to reform our hospitable and charitable aid ay -tarn it is first ueces-ary to reform our whole system of local government. From time te time after the abolition of the proviuces new loc»l bodies, atmsd with rating and borrowing powers, were created m necessity itrose, so that in 1885, when Parliament fouud itself obliged to fate the quction of ch«.rit»ble institutions and hospital-, two gre»t dangers bad to bs guarded against— too many locU bodies and the killing of voluntary ch*rity. The oxcessive multipl'cati.in of local bodies was fast becoraiug an intolerable evil, and yet it w*s a vital nc-ce-ssity that our charitable institutions and hospital* should be locally admini»te«;d. The law pw-sjd ia that year, with Bomeamfciidaientßiutrod'iccd in 1886, has b^euin operation ever since. All the (xperinuce gained in the working of it has served to CMt a strong lig>it on the evil* and the ddiigtra which surrouud this problem. Tke act attempted, first of nil, to give effect to the prime necessity for local power, bued on local taxation. This has been successfully achieved. While, however, this great advance has beeu made the excessive multiplication of local bodies hv» culminated ia a redvetio ad absurdum of the whole ►ystem, and it li<m» become pUiu, even to the dullest obstrfer, thai contradictory tendencies cannot be Fuccesufuliy harnessed together even by a Parliftireut. In the creation of existing charitable aid boards the aim was to bind together large and important districts having a community of interests aud easy m«-aiiß of communication. But it was fouiid tiec< ssary to make provision for the incorporation of separate institutions. The demand for this c^uld nob be resisted, and the present \,o i'ion is the result. The New Zealand act of 1885 has successfully localised adminittration and taxation in so far that it has established a uniform sjs*.em of distributing subsidies, but it has also fixed in the popular mind, and especially in the miud-i of tho least self-reliant of our people, the belief th»t they have a right to a living whether they work or not. HaviDg its roots mainly in tho undesirable immigrants who were sent during ths ascendant years of our great public works polioy, we have here and now amoug us a growing mass of persons who are not helpable in any effective way, and our method of dealing with them is simply destructive of the commonwealth. The great eDgine for the manufacture of this parasitic class is our system of outdoor relief, which I have dwelt on in many successive reports. We have never in New Zealand admitted the overwhelming force of the cardinal truthso slowlyand irresistibly driven home by experience in the reports of the English poor law commissioners — namely, this :— Tho first and most essential of all conditious, a principle whioh we flud universally admitted even by those whose practice is &t variance with it, is that the situation of the person relieved should not on the whole be made really or apparently so eligible as the situation of the independent labourer of the lowest class. To this end the first and most difficult step is to convince the House that nothing can be done so long as the general Government subsidies local contributions for outdoor relief. We must draw a ole&r and distinct line between the duty of fche State

under systematic feats to relieve actual destitution and the duty of tho districts aud neighbours to organise themselves so as to furnish out of voluntary gifbe, supplemented, if they see fit, by looal rates whatsoever their oharitable sentiments impel them to provide. In the bill cow before the House this is douo. The State undertakes to provide homes for all who are destitute and impotent from old ago, chronic illne3B, or calamity on the one hand, while on tho other, as the iudispeDsable complement and corollary, it proposau that the chronic unemployed, the drunkard, and the able-bodied unorganised residuum generally shall ba made to work. This double-barrelled plan will reduce the cost of outdoor relief bj at leasb ci half, by removing the class of iucorrigibles who at present absorb by far the largest pat t of our expenditure, while it will, paripassu, enable the benevolent organisations to dtal more generously and discriminately with the deserving poor. In order to induce the local bodies to agree to this it is provided that all children mainUiuod by the charitable aid board* shall bo taken over entirely by the Education department. In I doing this of ourse the utmost vigilance and determination will bo required on the part of the administrators to guard against the oonse- • quence of batttardy-made-easy on the oce hand and the thoughtless breaking-up of families by thrusting their members off the local rates on to the Government. " Owing to the reoent political and social development* it- was felt that the time had come w hen the numerous and delicate questions affecting women, which have to be dealt with iv connection with our system of charitable aid and hospitals and aiyluias, ought to handled in the first imtance by a woman. Mrs Neill, who has been appointed assistant inspector, combines in a very high degree the ability, knowledge, aud sympa hy required foe the position." DUNKDIN HOSPITAL. Dr MacG-e t ;or report* on th« Dunedin Hospital :—" Great improvements h&ve been effected einoe my last visit in utilising the old No. 2 ward. It hft« bom divided into a fine large waiting room at the one end, und a roomy, well-fitted dispomtary at the other. Tbe old operating room is now a consulting room, and off it has be^n provided a dark room for aphthalmuecopic examination*!. Upstairs the two back wards have been thrown into one by means of a connecting archway, thns greatly improving the appearance, lightsomeness, and ventilation of the whole. The hospital contains 120 be!*, hes two resident medical officers, both mx-nt graduates of tho New Zo«l*ud University. There are 26 nurees under tho mviron. The night superintendent is an experienced nurse who has been eight years in the service. The existence of the Medical School at Dunedin, involving on it does the constant presence of medical students in the wards, requires, in myopiniou, th« gre*t> eat vigilance and energy on the part of the matron to prevent the possibility of irregularities ariaiug. To this end I would suggest that her hands should be strengthened in every possible way and her authority upheld. I am bound to say that up to the present I have not heard even a hint of such things. I am anxious simply to avoid even the appearance of what experience te&ches one to obviate rather than wait for its ocru'nmce. The management of the steward, Mr Burns, continues to deserve my strong commendation. The hospital, as a whole, deserves the public confidence and the Medical School i» very vigorous and successful." OTACiO BBNKVOLBNT INSTITUIION. '•The new wards iv the Obaßo B-inevolei.it lupt'tutiou are approaching completion and will give relief to the overcrowding. Mr and Mrs Mcc keep everything in excellent order, but here also the evil custom of paupers eudenvourirjg to nurse their fellow inmates is much in evidence on both the male and female sides. Perb»ps it may be possible for a change to be m*de in the direction of an infirmary for the helpless and incurable under tho tuper vision of one or more traiued nurnes wheu the new wards are teady. The average weekly cost per head is 5s 3d."