NEW WARD AT HOSPITAL

Taranaki Daily News, 29 July 1929, Page 11

NEW WARD AT HOSPITAL

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES’ EFFORT.

INGLEWOOD SUPPORTS SCHEME.

Another advance w.ith the proposal to provide a ward at the New Plymouth hospital by means, of funds- to be raised by the friendly societies in the hospital board.’s district was. made at In'glewmd on Friday night, when a. meeting was held of repn sentatives of the fxuendiy societies in the town.

After discussing the matter, the meeting decided to, request the secretaries, of the individual lodges to> add the sum of 2s fid per member to, the quarterly summons notices,, pointing out to- members at the. same, time that the payment. of this amount, is to. be regarded purely as. a voluntary matter.. Together ' with the notices a leaflet. Is to be distributed setting out the. aims, and ideals of the. Taranaki. Hospital. Di.striet Friendly- Societies’ Association, in, reference to the proposed new wqr.d. Bro., F. A, Coleman, president of the association, explained to. the meeting that, it had been thought, by the- association at its annual meeting that it. would be. a graceful, act. on the, part of the friendly societies if they could find sufficient, funds: for tije. erection of a ward at the, hospital. The amount of money necessary was. estimated- ar ffiOfil), of which ths lodges would be a.ske.d t-o find £3OOO, ty, be subsidised. £ for £. At the present time, he continued, the hospital was in. a • cry ovexcrowded state. It. had been built to. uecammodate only 100. beds,, and yet there were often ISO patients there, so that, it was obvious that there was a need for increased-accommodation. If the friendly societies could, not. carry the project through, a rate sufficient to. find the whole of the £6OOO mignl have to be levied. If the money were, eollected from the lodaes; it. would- not mean a compulsory levy, the - idea Being to collect £1 per member, payment being- spread over two years at the rate of 2s fid per quarter. In New Plymouth the officers of the association hoped to meet the various lodges, and to put .the position before them. He did think that to give £1 for- such a worthy object would not hurt’ any member. The secretary of the association,. isro> N. B. Bellringer, said that the responses from the various lodges? seemed l , to shw that the majority were in favour of the proposal,, and some would be. adding, the 2s fid to their contributions, from the next quarter onwards; There- were many members, he said, who would bewilling to contribute more than £l,. and perhaps a few could not afford as much as was asked. The settling of this part could be left to the lodge secretaries, and he thought that the: contributions: all round should average £l. Bro. J. IL Penn said 1 that he already had some spare money in hand. The big majority of friendly society men were' working men, said the chairman, Bro. F. Spurdie, and it would be. hard for soin.e. of them to find the extra contributions,' It would be. very nice to think thht.', they had put up a ward, but heidouliV not. see that the societies were edlled; upon to do anything of that .'sort? He was a little doubtful about their being able to- raise £3OOO. as it would have to. be absolutely voluntary, and he thought the response might be. disappointing. If the association did not have the response it expected, it might agree iz> lurnish a ward, said Bro, Bellringer. However, the friendly societies were practically the only combined body of people representing, the whole of the hospital district, and the Hospital Board was of opinion that there was- no. other body so representative of the district. He did not think that they would fall far short of their object, if at all. If they got somewhere near they might open a list to thd public to make up the balance. The ward would not be for friendly society members only; He had had several promises of donations, one of- £5O, from people outside, the association..

In North Taranaki the response, to appeals of a- public Mature. were usually wcaderful, said Mr. Coleman, and as a general rule the average working man. was one of the best givers. While, the lodges would get a. subsidy, if the board had to raise the. money by way ‘of a rate it ■would, have to find the- whole £6OOO.

The proposttl was commended by the Mavor of Inglewood (Mr. J- W. Winfield), who considered that there were not many people in Inglewood who could not deny themselves what worked out at 21d per week, and he thought that the majority would fail in with the idea, as it was for the good of humanity and should appeal to all. so that they would sink any little personal objections. At the.- hospital, patients were given skilled attention with the latest appliances. When the children’s ward was built, the. congestion would be to some extent, relieved,, but the hospital was growing, and the number of patients was increasing at a greater rate than the population of the district, as more people were making use of it. The scheme was an admirable one, and he hoped it would be carried, through successfully and- that the lodge members would give cheerfully and willingly.