OVER £l0,000

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19887, 15 March 1939, Page 13

OVER £lo,ooo

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE WAIROA HOSPITAL BOARD LOAN SUOOESTED REPORT OF COMMITTEE (Special to the Herald.) WAIROA, this day. _ Provision for a capital expenditure of over £IO,OOO during the coming vear was made toy the Wairoa Hospital Board at the monthly meeting yesterday, a large portion of which, it was suggested, should be raised by means of a loan. In a report to the board the finance committee stated that last year the' board restricted its capital proposals to an absolute minimum and did not require a capital levy. Of the expenditure provided for out of the capital moneys on hand the following proposals were not proceeded with: —Convalescent room _ and women's ward, £200; alterations to isolation ward for tuberculosis patients, £000; theatre shower .room, £100; sewerage, £3OO. The . convalescent , robin and women's ward and the sewerage items would require to be included in the proposals for the forthcoming year, added the report. Minor maintenance reconditioning of the isolation ward provided for the use of the building for accommodating tuberculosis patients and it should reasonably meet restricted requirements for a few years. It was not considered practicable to have a theatre shower room installed near the present theatre and this item might toe deleted or deferred until a new theatre .block was erected. Capital Payments Capital payments for 1938-39 comprised the following items:- —-Balance nurses’ home additions, £2O; balance maids’ cottage, £9 4s 7d; nurses' home, balcony alterations, £3B 7s 4d; furniture and equipment, £529 6s Id; repayments of earthquake loan, £414 14s 9d; total. £lOll 12s 9d. A ..credit balance of £BO4 was therefore available for 1939-40. The committees in collaboration submitted the following items of expenditure for next year to be financed by way of a levy and subsidy:— Ambulance and cars for district nurses, £900: equipment, furniture and furnishings, £700: alterations and additions to maids’ cottage, laundry, coal -sheds, nurses’ diningroom, kitchen, men’s side ward bathroom, £1200; sewerage, £200; loan payments, £235 11s 8d; miscellaneous, £9B 9s 9d. It was recommended that the first four items, totalling £3OOO, be financed by way of levy and subsidy spread equally over three years. It was pointed out that the maintenance levy would be approximately 60 per cent greater next year than for the current year, and every effort was being made to ease the charge on the local contributory bodies for capital purposes next year. Additions Needed Urgently Irrespective of whether the board decided to build a hospital on the new site or not, it was obvious, added the report, that urgent additions and alterations would have to be made to the women’s ward, and the nurses’ home greatly increased, in fact, nearly doubled. Porters’ quarters also were badly needed, and additions to the women's ward would necessitate the removal or demolition of the existing quarters. It was recommended that the -financing of those three items, totalling £10,500, toe made by way of a loan covering a term of, say, 10 years. Within the next few years heavy capital expenditure on the hospital could be envisaged if a completely new building was not required and it would not appear to be a good policy to have long-term loans existent when large new ones were being raised. “Separate provision is made in these proposals for a maternity annex in case the board decides to adopt the recommendations of the Department of Health,’’ stated the report. “How ever, it is, not to be construed thin the committee is making any recommendations in this direction.”

Allowing for the repayment of £509 of new loans next year, the above proposals could be carried out with a capital levy of only £SOO for 1939-40.