HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7114, 12 July 1886, Page 2

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

(Continued from column g.) Doctor's Salary. — Consideration of the question of increasing the salary of the Hospital Surgeon was entered upon. — Mr. Elliot thought that instead of paying £150 a year for the surgeon's services, tho yearly salary of £200 should bo given, but that in addition to the present duties the surgeon should do the dispensing, and so save a considerable sum which was now paid to the chemist for mixing the dru_'b. He did not see that the Board could raise the salary without some compensating saving. Even with the existing .liabilities the Board would, at the end of the tuo months, be £200 to the bad. Insteal of extending the liabilities they should endeavour to curtail them. — The Secretary' said he had been toM by D; . U'Cuiroll that he would under any cucumstuuees decline to do] the dispensing. -Mr. Major eaid that Dr. O'Uiirroll evinced veiy great interest in his duties a o surgeon. He would, therefore, favour tho increase of £200. In Wanganui, where there were fewer patients, the amount paid for surgeon's attendance was much greater than in tho New Plymouth Hospital. Mr. Bayly remarked that in Wanganui the rateable value of the district waa greatei than that of Taranaki, aud more money was therefore available. The Batter was ultimately adjourned te the next meeting of the Board in order that it niity bo considered by a full meeting-, and in order also that Dr. O'Carroll may be present to give certain information required on tho subject. The Board rose.

Shop lifting appears to bo on the increase in Auckland. Holt, the bank defaulter, is in tho gaol hospital, suffering from gout. Ice in Auckland ! Lirgo sheets oneeighth of iin inch thick were to be seen in ileeh Mies' Bay on Thursday morning. It ia intended to use the present hospital buildings as a refuge for old men and women, when the new hospitable is available. " That's fo" a ptir of trousers for a man tint was ragged,"' was the explanation given to day by tho Secretary of the Charitable AM Board of an item appearing in tho accounts. New Zealand imports about £20,000 worth of wattle bark for tanning every year. Tlic bark can bo grown hero, and offurs a good opening for settlers to make money. The Inspector of tlio New Zealand Insurance Company intimates in Auckland tlvit ;ni interim dividend of 3.5. per share for iho h.ilf year endinsj May 31 will be pajfible ''it tho head ofh'oo oL' the company on tne 14th July. Trying to mako people moral by Act of Parliament ii frequently an expensive K>'uno. It is ollicially Htatcd that the Gaming ;mil Lotteries Amendment Act, 188."i. him resulted in a loss to tho levcnue of iIMOOu je.ir. Two Auckland lawyers lately got to high avoi'ilh over a proiniHuory-noto case, and onii of them at kiuth declared his belief that his brother prnfeH.iional " would endorhc a tombstone i£ ho only thought he could iloat it." The London correspondent of a Canterbury paper siyß: — This will bo v good year for frozen mutton. The winter was bo lon£ ur.d 8' v re that all tho hay and roots have been used up, let ving all stock, both cattle and sheep, in veiy poor condition. There will bo no fat stock all the summer, except those largely fed on cake nnd oilier uri :i;^i.' foo'3. Several times ■when out iv :< oui try lately, I have notk'O'l lambs 1.. <n from tho owes and stall-fed to try and get them into condition for thebuMift. Tho rfj il eruption at Tarawora has ttistubtd \i '.n 'b mindK as well us the Hot Lakeß distri'-tB, und tho Ntqricr News says it liuh caußcl a shaking up of dusty vol'iiiicH, a ficelliiise: m the intellectual poolH, and ebullitions of explanations, causes, wbyH-und-whereforefi, I-toM-you so

— and so forth, all over tbe country. Dr. Hector went to see tho place, and burst forth himself, volcanically, when he got back to Wellington, and everyone who has been there is expected to geyserate floods of information, hot-and-hot, about the event and its consequences. Rather a weak snot in tho administration of relief was disclosed this morning at the meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. Mr. I. Buyly, Mr. J. ] Elliot, and Mr. Major stated that certain people had been admitted to the hospital who should not have been admitted, aud to whom in fact they themselves had refused orders of admission. The applicants for medical lelief, finding themselves unable to obtain orders of admission from the members of the Board resident in their own localities at Wailara or LTawern, had come into New Plymouth, and hud there found a more sympathetic ear. The opinion was expressed that uftor one member of the Board lend enquired into a pctitoner'a ca?e, and had come to the conclusion that it was not one calling for relief, any other member should reform from granting an order, at least without reference-to the members who had previously made the ease the subject of enquiry. On Mr. Major's motion, seconded by Mr. J. Elliot, it wus finally resolved, " That recognising the heavy expenses incurred by the admission of non-paping patients into tho hospital, the necessity is urged upon all members of tho Board of exercising extremo caution in giving orders of admission." It may awaken suprise to learn that tho capital invested in registered companies carrying on gold-mining operations up to the 31st March last amounted to the nominal sum of £7,078,393, which was the aggregation of 451 companies engaged in alluvial and quartz claims ; and the amount of paid-up capital in respect of tho same is £1,575,983. Fifty-nine of these companies aro registered under " The Mining Companies Limited Liability Act, 1865," the total paid-up capital of which amounts to £357,009; tho others are under tho Joint Stock Companies Act, with a paid-up capital of £21,080; and the remaining 390 are under the Mining Companies Act, with a paid-up capital of £1,197,894.