MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1928, Page 9

MUNICIPAL CONFERENCE

HOSPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS. By Teieffraph.—Press Associatics. Nelson, Last Night. Conflicting opinions on the direct representation of local bodies on hospital boards were expressed during the discussion of a Masterton remit suggesting this at the conference of municipal authorities which opened here this morning. The mover held that the body that collected the rate should have some representation of the body that spent it. The Mayor of Christchurch, Rev. J. K. Archer, said the ratepayers were to be considered first and not the body that merely levied the rate. Ratepayers had the matter in their own hands because they could elect whom they liked to hospital boards. Support for the remit was given by the Mayor of Wellington, Mr. G. A. Troup. There had been very large increases in hospital rates recently, he said, and boroughs and cities should have some say in their expenditure. Mr. D. G. Sullivan, M.P., supported this, and several other delegates spoke both for and against the motion, which was then put and carried on a show of hands. The Mayor of Christchurch rose to a point of order. He pointed out that many local bodies had more representatives present than the number of votes (one or two) to which they were entitled. The president should point out, he said, that only the correct number of votes should be taken by each municipality. An attempt was .being made to decrease the contribution from counties and to increase that from boroughs, the Masterton mover explained. An amendment was moved by the Greymouth delegate that all charges for the upkeep of hospitals in excess of the revenue collected from them should be paid out of the consolidated funds, so that all sections of communities, and not only the owners of land, would contribute.

The remit was amended accordingly and carried.