WALLACE HOSPITAL

Southland Times, Issue 22073, 21 July 1933, Page 3

WALLACE HOSPITAL

MONTHLY MEETING OF THE BOARD. (From Our Correspondent.) The monthly.meeting of the Wallace Hospital Board held on Thursday in the board room, Riverton, was attended by Mr J. C. Thomson (chairman), Miss Hunt, Messrs F. J. Dyer, J. G. Johnston, F. J. Linscott, W. B. Hopcroft, James H. Smith, and George L. Charlton. Correspondence. The secretary submitted the following statement in respect to the board severing its connection with the Waipiata Sanatorium: The chairman of the Otautau Town Board at the last meeting of the body, said he understood the Wallace Board was withdrawing from the Waipiata Sanatorium Committee because of financial reasons, and yet the Hospital Board had power to determine its own rate, and who would have objected to a farthing instead of three-sixteenths of a penny in the interests of health? In this remark the chairman of the Town Board appears to be under a misapprehension of the powers of the hospital board. It has no power to levy a rate, and it cannot exceed the expenditure fixed by the Public Health Department. The present rate of 3-16ths cf a penny is virtually fixed by the department in this way: The annual requisition drawn up by the hospital board to meet the estimated expenditure is forwarded to the department for review as by law required and the department has full power to order a reduction. The Southland Board was recently instructed to reduce its outdoor relief by £7OO. In 1931, in pursuance of the Government’s demands for economy, the department did not consider to any extent the requisition forwarded by the board, but simply mentioned the sum that it thought should suffice, and which was far from adequate, and that sum fixed automatically the amount the board could obtain by way of levy from the four contributing authorities. The department’s letter regardin” economy was as follows: “I have accordingly to ask that your board put in hand any necessary economy measures, and so prepare its estimates that the net estimated maintenance expenditure, that is the amount to be levied for maintenance purposes on '..e contributary local authorities together with subsidy thereon shall not exceed the amount named, viz., £4413.” Once tne department has fixed the amount of the requisition the board bases its levy on the contributing authorities on that amount, and in due course informs the several authorities of the contributions that will be required to raise the specified sum. The local authorities then strike and collect the rate, the proceeds being forwarded to the hospital board.

The amounts contributed by each local authority are as follows: Wallace County Council, £3140; Riverton Borough Council, £123; Otautau Town Board, £94; Nightcaps Town Board, £56. The Wallace County Council contributes nearly twelve times as much as the other three local bodies combined; it has three representatives on the hospital board, and it has not so far commented on the severance proposal one way or the other. The objection has come from two local bodies whose annual contribution to the hospital is £l5O. The following showt the amounts paid by the Wallace and Fiord Hospital Board to the Waipiata Committee for capital and maintenance expenditure and also maintenance fees of Wallace District patients for the years 1922 to 1923: Capital expenditure year ended 1923, £7 19/4; 1924, £lOOl 6/-; 1925, £1502 4/-; 1926, £540 16/-; 1927, £518; 1928, £504; 1929, £326; 1930, £226; 1931, £5O 10/-; making a total of £4668 16/-.

The maintenance expenditure was £7l 0/1 in 1924; £123 2/- in 1925; and £3l 4/- in 1926—a total of £225 6/1. Fees paid on behalf of patients, less refund from patients were as follows: 1923, £7 19/4; 1924, £67 7/2; 1925, £65 2/-; 1926, £ll3 19/-; 1927, £67 10/4; 1928, £59 18/-; 1929, £246 14/-; 1930, £374 15/6; 1931, £662 14/6; 1932, £587 1/1; 1933, £286 4/B—making a total of £2534 5/7. From this it will be seen that in the course of eleven years the Wallace Board has had to find £2534 to make good charges that should have been paid by patients who defaulted, or an average of £230 a year. . The chairman said he had received a letter from the Nightcaps Town Board advising him that representations had been made through the member for the district to the Minister of Public Health requesting him to hold an inquiry into the matter with a view of having the board’s decision reversed. He had informed the town board that the department had already instituted inquiries. . . . After a short discussion, during which Mr J. G. Johnston severely criticized the action of the Wallace Board in severing its connection with Waipiata, he said he would give notice of motion for further consideration with Waipiata Committc The chairman remarked that so many months must elapse before he could receive such another motion, but he said Mr Johnston would be given an opportunity to bring up the matter later on if he so desired.

and Mr G. Ledingham 6, Messrs H. McDonald and G. Porter 10 v. Mrs Browning and Miss Campbell 6, Miss M. Lawrie and E. Morris 5 v. Mrs Matheson and Mr G. Batchelor 10, Messrs T. Tecofsky and R. Wescombe 10 v. Mrs Clark and Miss T. Ledingham 2, Messrs C. Chamberlain and G. Cook 7 v. Miss A. Sheedy and Mr D. Matheson 6, Messrs J. Heenan and J. Lobb 6 v. Mrs Sutherland and Miss Coombe 7.