HOSPITAL MATTERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143763, 11 April 1912, Page 5

HOSPITAL MATTERS.

THE MINISTER AT STRATFORD. Per Press Association. ELTHAM, April 10. The Hon. G. W.. Russell met the members of the Stratford Hospital Board to-day'. In the course of his remarks he announced that legislation would bo introduced at an early date with a view of placing men who, through' accident or Infirmity. were incapacitated from earning their living on the same basis’ as old-age pensioners, thus relieving charitable aid. In the meantime local bodies should exercise their closest care to prevent their being imposed on ,by professional mendicants and wasters and loafers. He would also make representations to the ..Minister of Justice with a view to finding if arrangements could be made to advise hospital and charitable aid boards of cases in which hospital boards are likely to be made liable for the. maintenance of destitute children or orphans, so that the boards could bo represented in court. Touching on the necessity for nurses in the back-blocks for maternity cases, he said that until the staff of certificated maternity nurses was sufficiently numerous arrangements might be made by which to take advantage of experienced ivomen of the midwife class—good, sensible, practical, motherly women, This was made merely as a suggestion to the boards as a possible way out of the difficulty. The Government desired that the hospital and charitable aid law' should be administered in the most liberal spirit, with a view to providing the utmost usefulness possible consistent with economy. The Minister explained that he was getting into touch with the boards, so as to obtain an insight into the working of the boards, and promised that, wherever possible, he would assist in any legislation that would facilitate the working of the boards. In a subsequent conference with the board it was brought under his notice that men employed on co-operative works and treated in hospital did not contribute to rates, and often even did not pay their maintenance fees. A suggestion was put forward that arrangements should be made to deduct perhaps a shilling a month from the pay of all the men. for which the men or their wives, when sick or injured, could obtain free hospital treatment. The matter will be further considered. The Minister visited the hospital and expressed his admiration of the building, of its arrangements, and of the conduct of the institution generally.