The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1883. MONDAY’S MEETING.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1061, 18 July 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1883. MONDAY’S MEETING.

The Hospital meeting on Monday cannot be said to have been very enthusiastic, although the resolutions arrived at were in the right direction. ' We hope that the Committee will be called together without delay, so. that the affair may not be Jkept hanging about for weeks. For our part we have very little doubt about the money being raised if a well-directed effort is made, but it is essential that it should be ascertained what amount will be con tributed before we commit ourselves to the formation of a Board. The speakers at the meeting all seemed to be unanimous that the Hospital should be kept open, and the only question therefore is one of ways and means. There seems no doubt also that in the hands of a local committee the management would bo batter than it has been in times past. That is the opinion of the Inspector of Hospitals, who, in his report says; “ One thing appears to me very plain ; the best managed are those which are the subjects of local interestand support/’ Another matter is drawn attention to by the Inspector, and that is the manner of admission. He says ; “The mode of gaining admission to the colonial hospitals, either as an in or outpatient, varies greatly. In some instances a subscription, varying from 10s to £1 Is for the year, entitles to free admission during that period, without any further payment; in others a weekly payment of from 10s to £1 10s is demanded in addition to the subscription ; while in a third class it is not necessary to subscribe at all. As regards out-patients, the sum of 2s 6d or ss, paid annually, may entitle to attendance and medicine, for that period, for a man and his family. On visiting the hospitals a new-comer cannot fail to bo struck with the presence of many patients who, if in England, would be treated at home by their private medical attendant. - The form of application for admission into the old London hospitals still runs thus: ‘and your petitioner, being destitute of means whereby to obtain a cure,’ &c. ; and it is only very recently that one of these institutions has set aside accommodation for paying patients, the primary object of this new departure being the increase of the hospital funds. Again in reference to abuses, he remarks: “ It is not an unknown thing for drunken or dissolute persons to use the hospitals as convenient recruiting-places in the intervals of their periods of indulgence ; but the greatest obstacle to their usefulness is that they are made the home of aged, infirm, and chronic cases, corresponding very closely to the permanent pauper inhabitants of an English union workhouse. Their presence seriously cripples the resources of a hos’pital, while the conduct and habits of many of them are subversive of discipline and cleanliness. In some of the larger towns whole wards are occupied in this way, to the exclusion of more deserving and improvable patients; and in one hospital want of room had compelled the committee to board out six of these old or infirm persons, at a weekly cost of 10s each. The few refuges which exist are quite inadequate for the reception of this large and increasing class, for whom some cheaper form of accommodation should be provided than that which they now enjoy in the hospitals.” It was just this point that was meant by Mr Clover when he said that thrifty working men objected to contribute to the maintenance of broken down drunkards. There was a good deal of justice in his suggestion that that class should be the especial care of the State, who had reaped all the benefit from them, but we fear that there is little chance of Government looking at it in that light. What the committee will have the power to do, however, is to exclude any of these gentry from the institution, and confine the use of the Hospital to cases of genuine sickness and accident. Having, as they will, to expend money locally contributed, we may be sure that strict supervision will be exercised in admitting patients, and it will be a good thing too, for there was quite enough said at Monday’s meeting to show that the Hospital had in some instances been used as a sort of Old Men’s Home. Government, of coarse, has found the money hitherto ; but now the people are called upon to put their hand in their pocket, we may hope to see the Hospital confined to its legitimate purpose. The Committee appointed at the meeting should lose no time in pushing the objects for which they were selected to a speedy termination.