THE MINISTER INTERVENES

Southland Times, Issue 19291, 9 July 1924, Page 4

THE MINISTER INTERVENES

If the Southland Hospital Board considers itself affronted by the action of the Minister of Health in connection with exMatron Ewart’s pension, it should have the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that it deserved this Ministerial correction. From the outset it has been patent that the Board utterly failed to appreciate the effect of its niggardly treatment of a woman who was retiring after loyal and valuable service extending over nearly a quarter of a century. It cannot plead that the salary paid to the Matron during her long service was any answer to the proposal that the Board should follow the practice of institutions of a similar character in larger and in smaller centres and give the retiring servant a pension of about £lOO a year, because by no stretch of the imagination could the salary be advanced as an argument in favour of less generous treatment than that extended by other Boards. Nor can it be said that the Southland Hospital Board had no opportunity to correct its first blunder. The question was considered more than once, and each time it was obvious that a large section of the Board was anxious to deal with the matter in adequate fashion. The Board’s decision meant that the province was laid open to the charge of being poor spirited, a direct consequence of its shabby treatment of the ex-Matron. A presentation to Miss Ewart showed conclusively where the sympathies of the public were, and we think that the people of Southland will generally applaud the firmness of the Minister in saving the Board from itself. There is a danger, of course, that a section of the Board will so resent the Ministerial decision that it will proceed to shift the battleground to the question of the Board’s dignity and the propriety of the Minister forcing the position; but the Board in this matter lost its dignity at the outset and the Minister of Health can plead with confidence that his action is justified by the merits of the case. The Board’s position and any complaint it may make must be examined in the light of what is considered to be a “fair thing,” and we do not think it can defend its own attitude in the face of what appears to be the custom of Hospital Boards in matters of this kind. For ourselves we are pleased that the Minister of Health has been firm and that he has made it clear that the servants of the public will be protected.