THE GORE HOSPITAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 12

THE GORE HOSPITAL.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE. (From Ottr Own Cobbespomdent.) INVEROARGILL, December 9. The foundation 6tone of the Gore Hospital was laid this afternoon by the Minister of Lands (the Hon. R. M'Nab), in the presence of a fairly large number of citizens. The day was fine, and those present obtained a comprehensive idea of what the buildings will be when finished. A platform had been erected in front of the building, and on it, in addition to the chairman of the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board and the Hon. Mr M'Nab, there were the Mayor of Gore (Mr A- T. MaeGibbon), the Mayor of Mataura (Mr J. Gault), the Mayor of Invercargill (Mr W. B. ScandTett), and Messrs C. kobertson, T. Green, i). Roche, J. Hamilton (members of the Southland Charitable Aid Board). The chairman (Mr D. Poppelwell), secretary (Mr A. Martin), and members of the local Hospital Committee were also present.' ' Mr A. Bain (chairman of the Southland Charitable Aid and Hospital Board), after 'expressing his pleasure at being present on such an important occasion, reao apologies , from the Rev. A. Wingfield, Mr W. Reid i (chairman of the Lake County Council), 1 Mr R. Cruickshank (Mayor of the Bluff), Mr T. De La Perelle (member of the board). He then proceeded to give a short resume of the building operations of the i board during the last 10 years. Lome ] Farm, bad cost altogether £14,000, the offices in Tay street (previous to the erection of which the board had to pay rent) cost j £2400, bijt this outlay did not entail one ! penny of expense on the ratepayers, as the : rent of the shops on the street line provided the whole df the interest; £500 had been spent on the Bowmont street home, but the former inmates of this institution had been transferred to the Lome Earm. There being now no staff at that institution, the former cost was available fjor the Gore Hospital, and in that way the newhospital would be officered without cost to the ratepayers. The board had recently provide*! £1250 for a Nurse's Home at { Invercargill, and by the time the Gore Hospital was finished it would have cost £5000. Of this £1050 had been rawed locally, and the Government subsidy of 24s brought it up to £2255. The contract price was £3120, and architect's fee, etc., £250, furnishing bringing the cost up to £5000, the balance of which, less a possible special subsidy of £1 for £1, would be levied on the local bodies. In 10 years the board had expanded on hospitals and Lome Farm £23,150, and so far from increating the burden on the ratepayers, the rate was now only 2d, as against 3d 10 years ago. Ten years ago the board controlled three hospitals, requiring for maintenance £3517 "per annum. This year the cost would be £4322, an increase of only £525 during the past 10 years. Ten years ajro the board raised from local bodies £3850, en a ?d basjs, and now 6n a 2d ! basis £4285. The fever hospital at Kew . had coat £3700, which brought the cost * of the board's building operations for the 10 years up to £26.650. Thia had b»en done without increasing the burden on the ratepayers. There was not likely to^ be any further expenditure upon buildings for "orno considerable tiny. He then failed upon the Hon. Mr M'Xab to perform t'io ceremony of laying the foundation stone.

I The Minister of Lands congratulated those . who were* responsible for the erection of the fine building the fottndation. stone of which he had been asked to lay. He regretted • that the Minister in' charge of hospital* ' was not present, as he would hare been' able to tefl them much more on the subject thanjie (the speaker)- oould do. He could have also informed them of the Government's policy< with regard to hospitals. Until reoently he (Mr M'Nab} bad been among those who w<&re opposed to the increase of . hospitals. He was now, however, of- opinion that every centre should have such- an institution. By delaying the despatch of patients to the hospital life was frequently endangered. "While he recognised the necessity of giving each centra a hospital, it should be understood that the. inhabitants pnt their -hands vn their pockets to supplement the public money. He had frequently heard the administration of the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board spoken of "as the best in New Zealand, and he had heard members of northern boards expressing a determine,- - tion to come south and take a leaf out of their book. In recognition of the efforts of the Hospital Committee in raising £1025 towards the cost: of the hospital, the chairman (Mr Poppeheell) was invited to place a jnemorial stone within the main entrance. 1 Messrs W. B. Scandrett (Mayor) and D. Roche (councillor), on behalf of the people of Invercargill, spoke a few words of congratulation, which brought the proceedings to a close*/ •• i *• < • ■ Later on a' banquet was held in Mr Patenon's, during which toasts appropriate to the oocaeion were proposed and honoured. Responding to the toast of the Ministry, the Hon. Mr M'Nab made reference to a feature of the recently-passed Land Bill which is not generally known. That special feature is the provision giving preference to men with families. AH properties already acquired- for dose settlement, and all still to be acquired, are to have a full third of their extent reserved in the ballot for , men with families— a provision very much 'in , the interests of dose settlement. He had just signed the scheme for the ballot* ing Of the Otekaike Estate on these lines, and also the schemes for two other subdivisions. No other country in the world , had such «. provisions Another feature \m ' the provision that -before the completion ' of any. *aie of first-class land in future, tho 1 purchaser must make 'a declaration that the first-dose |and he already owns and the land' he proposes *6 buy do not together exceed 640 acres,, m the case of secondclass land 2000 acre* and third-class 5000 acres ; and these provisions were inserted without opposition. There was not one , dissenting voice. At a later stag*. Mr. M'Nab,, referring to ■ the name of the hospital— the Seddon Memorial Hospital — promised that when the . hospital was in going order he ,would pre- ! sent to the trustees an almost full-length '. photo enlargement of the late Hon. Mr Seddon.