MR J. B. WHYTE AND THE HOSPITALS BILL.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 134, 26 December 1885, Page 7

MR J. B. WHYTE AND THE HOSPITALS BILL.

The following is a copy of the letter referred ifco in our report of the Piako County Council meeting in last week's issue, as received by the Chairman from Mr J. B. Whyte i— Hamilton, December 12> 1885. Dear Sir,— t this day received yours of the 9th, referring to the injustice which your county suffers under the provisions of the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Act of last session, and in reply regret to say that I see no way other than through the board of obtaining separation from the Thames H. and O. A. district until Parliament again assembles. I may explain, however, "that the unfoitunate position in which your ipounty, in common with many I other country districts, finds itself, is owing to no fault of mine or af my colleague, Mr Lake. The Bill as at first introduced by the Government, professed to place the' contributions of the various local governing bodiefi Upon the ! basis of population. This appeared to ' us to be no more than reasonable^ as | surely it is population almost entirely that reaps the [benefit bf hospitals and ftid. However; before the Bill passe 4 its second reading, tb pur intense astonishment the Premier intimated his intention of altering 1 that basis to One ttf ratable value. This, it is said, was the result of pressure brought to bear on the Government at a critical time j>y some of their wavering sup{%ters (of which there are not a few)j bailing from large centres of j population^ Ifoweverj we still hoped in committed* prevent the basis of population froft^being excised frdm the Bill, and in thisNt naturally expected [that the Government would at least tacitly support, or abstain from actively mutilating jtkejp own measure. However, in thisjwe, were disappointed; arid, the result i$ |he injustice to tthich

sparsely-populated^ districts, \ W^/ ncm^ liable. Wken^O'P^inier-ihtJmat^N the change first Merred to, he 6 also ga^e ntitice of many .dbher,. radical 1 ftltcrtiitohß in,+he Bill^iiv fact so, ., many an* I so important that the Opposition, sup1 porters* suggested that the Bill sh'pnld Ibo taken back Remodelled, and -reprinted. This was, however, too great a humilation even for such a longsuffering Government ad the present 'one to , submit to, and the Opposition, having . lii mind how patiently they had submitted to their • dictation on many previous ocoasions, did nofc press the point. The consequence of tbts was that when the Bill got into committee the House Was flooded with supplementary order papers, all containing innumerable amendments, and also, td cap all and complete the confusion in , the minds of members, still further amendments upon these amendments were tabled by the Grdrernmerit. The result was therefore that very few members indeed, if any, clearly understood what they were doing. Any one who has seen the manner in which Bills are pushed through Committee catt readily understand this, especially in the case of (jtovernaient bills. Hofrever> to return i to your own particular case. When Mr Lake and myself saw that the basis of rateable value was sure td be carried fae succeeded on 3Vtr Lake's motion in fdrming the counties of Raglan, Waipa, Waikato, and Piako, into a separate district. In this we of course meant that they should form a separate district, ' both as regards hospitals and charitable aiJ, especially the latter. However, a majority of the House decided that as Regards charitable aid, our and other outlying districts should be included m hospital districts already existing. Our principal object being thereby frustrated^ I moved thai the counties of Kaglan^ Waipa, and Waikato should be irioluded in the Auckland district, and Piakd in the Thames district. It seemed to me that of two evils it was better that Piako should be tacked on the Thames rather than on to the Auckland district. There are various reasons for this which I need hardly go into at present. I may say also as regards our action in the matter of this act that on the third reading of the Bill'the advisability of rejecting the bill in fcbfcd was seridusly discussed, but the feeling of the great majority of the House in favour of a Bill, however faulty, in preference to the then existing state of thing's wa& so evident that no Vefy energetic effort was made to do So. tn this-, perhaps, we were wrong, although I hardly fchihk s6, as the effect has been to ventilate the subject so thoroughly, and to awaken men's minds, to the graVityof the question so completely that iii all probability we shall succeed before very iong in solving this exceedingly important and difficult, fecal problem in a fairly satisfactory manner. Of course no effort on my part will be wanting in endeavouring to dd so.— l am, etc., tf. B. Warm