HOSPITAL BOARDS' CONFERENCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13635, 1 July 1908, Page 7

HOSPITAL BOARDS' CONFERENCE.

A ©HiEGATFS;REPORT.

On tba^Kih^June there assembled/M WeHingtoii?r«»nie2;i2flf or, 130 tiU and Charitable Ai«L Boards,;) to together - about the ; Governors hew; Hospital and Charitable. other matt«*_ of interest to' such Boards; Mr John Talbot, chairman, and Mr Russell, secretary* were the delegates of the South; Canterr bury Board;,' and at yesterday's meeting, of Talbot gave a. resume of; . the proceedings of the conference, as they affected/ as well as he could remember them in; the absence of /. the official, pecbrd, which was not yet to-band. The number of delegates, said Vu ..Tate, hot, wis jlniich larger .than he had- expected to it was. decided in border: to % all a- chance that sp&cues should be-(united to five *"For bis ownipVH" heihad little to say; as all that this-ißoaid desired , was that things should rremaiil'tasthey' "are. :?\ ■ Mr Talbpi.,briefly, described the initml addressesriftheJlinister, Hon. G. Fowfds, and Dr Valuitiae, the; Inspector-ueneral. The latterrnodVa'great deal'to- say. about the growth ?"&»•;the "^expenditure," referring chiefly /■ dn< charitable' aid. '.:••' He made some'suggestions for thement of .the/hospital system, Which wouitf - tertainly: ( i£^t ; in increasing 'the cost; ,' : He opoke of .baae hosj>itals, -oroughly well ♦-quipped, and of training nurses at tlies** whether^'the-j,base hospitals could train.', enough nurses, and another, whether the >mall io»pita|s ". could'afford-to pay ali; fertifi«ie^-'«.- i intsesy / ftrWalintine comf plained on'charitable aid bad" bevond .he made check. .fe'Cfn^r-rwas^V of; - something like workhouses;' the otber cntting off the subsidy, go fur as chariUv abb aid was concerned. The cost wasr given a» £102,000 for charitable aid, and £186,000 for hospitals. He t jlr Talbot) . was not sure'whether the cost ofTnentai . hospitals, about £Bo,ouu, was included. With regard-to charitable aid, Dr y"aliniMie must have forgotten' one or two parnt«. r Th« total cost provided for all i bariiable institutions, outside the hospi-. taL«. not out-door relief only. The' *ent system,, if carefully administered, tots as economical as any* that could be devfced, and he doubted very much whether tbe »nggested alterations would have the effect of curtailing the cost at all. certain!- catting off the subsidy would not be popular' and he hoped' they, would ■ever see the workhouse system adopted Vre. -It was;, a common complaint in the Old Country ,that the workhouse offered no protection against imposture. Another point was that tie relief afforded mu3t have some proportion to" the connnon standard of living. What wou'd ■■ - be an adequate measure of relief in some countries would not be adequate in a prosperous country like New Zealand. The total expense was very lim*; over' 2s per head of the population per annum, a mere" nothing to a people who spent at least £6 oi- £7 a head over and above the nce*!fiarie» of life, and about £1 per bead <%b on tobacco alone. If Dr Valintine thought: Jher wonld be -more careful m spendine : . afl the money had to be ra feed lotally, he was mistaken; for the K this Board at, any rate—never thought' where the. moneys came from if a case hi distress came before them. ■ -. Coming to the consideitition given: by the Conference to the Bill, Mr Talbot said they were placed in a difficulty because there was no Bill; it had not yet bren dratted, and tbe proceedings we re a little mixed in. coneequtnce. He verymuch doubted whether there would be any legislation on the subject this sesuon, unless it might be some small amendments. With others interested in county matters i« saw the Hon. Dr Fihdlay, and he told them they need not expect any legislation affecting them, and he thought that.would, apply also to hospital matters. Various subjects were however discussed. One was a question of control. It could not ba imagined liere how much importance was attached by some of the delegates to th« proposal that all the tions in any district should b» managed by one Board. Jn some districts there was a multiplicity of charitable institutions, all making demands for money upon a central Board, which had no control upon, the expenditure. This question - involved' the "separate" hospitals. This Board would . have been <cohtent to, leave things as they were, but a'resolution was carried that the central Boards should appoint - the local committees, from their own number ' or others.—{Mr GilUngham: That would not suit Waimate.) —The argument for that was that the central Board had to collect the funds .from the whole of the district, therefore control should be representative of the whole district, and not of the local*' ity only. It was pointed out that when. these " separate" institutions were established, the idea was that they would be xnpporfed by donations, and a subsidy thereon of 24s in the £, but that idea had seldom been realised and at present there were 'only two hospitals—Oamarn and. Mercury Bay—that were carried on without . support from rates. The Oamarn hospital had some endowments to assist the contributions.; As the" original intention had not bfsn realised, it was claimed, that the whole question of their administration should be reviewed. Another matter that created a considerable amouno of discnaaioa was the pro-

posal of the Government that the Department should* control expenditure on bnildiuga and ,)the.,appointment of surgeons and matrons. "-X: resolutionwas carried' that •Uoards. should ..be free up., to £2OO, .iiAn' . proposed: tliat the Inspei^rGeiiferalshould, «s; efticip, jhave a seat on/every .'Bijara. iJr Valintine said lie'■•'did :not ; Government would accept •.Uus>'^- i -'.T&4-;".;a resolution was that/ notice, should be givenrtS 4he».Department_2i-«iaysbefore a- surgeon or: matron wis was; promised a? an^.alternative;to. G|pv«rnment. control; but it. would be ;perjectly useless; \,-'y: : '■-.;,-"'■ '■"■..'*'.-■■ -' '\ -'/: The - mode ofjelecting:meaibers:;wis£discused at" length, andstfie. cbnfeiOTcjjjJebhcluded finally that members shonidobeVappointett as^vatpresent; cepted an.amendment •of tem to provide Ahat only-half the members should, retire.at.one time; " ; / , ;'( i .Amongst, other matters :<tealt a proposal-,by %Hi Batchelor;;ofvPijMdin, tbatyWhen • there -was an honorary medical istaff- of six l or-more, one 6f_thena ! stoittld. have.a seataMhe Board.'- Apparently.tbw w j qj»M affect 'opif. v the. four: other '■'■ ihreefcCentres: ■■ ;were; yetcDr- 15ajfch^ifs:,elc^uence : captured :<the and?his motion. was; carried/: by a; small majority. ■;■ -It *' a 3 only the'/delegates'.; > from.' centres /'should ;/vote r " -bub • this :;was'-ii,oi agreed to'..-''■'''.There- weie many bther):matitera' fdealt' with, ' "and .when' "rameVdown,.''he-might':make remarks upon it. , ■■;'„'■■'.-v-.•:';■>%£* . Mr Talbot (added'"that irrKuss&l:;visited "several-of the •institutions jii^Wel-

lington. and all., the delegates ,visited./the hospital, where they; saw several shelters .for conshmptives. oihefe conVlitibns.-Vwe-jb/cer.tniniy./as'.favbiir-able ;at. T^inara;:' as ?at the On their wav£inmnewhich /; seeined to be a veiy pleasant .place/indeed; on' a fine day [-:. In./proposing-:a vote of thanku to Mr /Talbot:for'his/repbrt, Mr Ciaigie said he agreed with' him that Dr Valintine'.i propoHab would effect no improvement, and that the cost of charitable ,aid was notligrumble about. /■. He agreed too thaF the principle was not fair that allowed a district like' Waimate to have repiesentatives on. the central"Board while tho latter had jao say in the,,expenditure of Waimate.' It was a delicate-question when one came/.o the local instance,; but the principle was plainly bad. He hoped that the Bill, when drafted, would be P'%« d -before /the Boards befoie being passed. .' •-/

Mr Gillingham said, he Jiad heard of charitable aid being given in Wellington in a very different Btyle from that followed by this Board. " One instance was that of a ttushman who itiougla, he would like a spell of life in town; he came tlown to Wellington, and because he could not get work" there, he was helped bv the Charitable Aid Board. J hey had "nevei helped able-bodied men here. 'The chairman said there would lie cases of imposition now and then, bur that would not justify iihem in refusing aid in of apparent need-. it was very gratifying, he considered, that the present Act' had given satisfaction for over. 30 vears. :

Mr Butler hoped that the Government would not withdraw the subsidy, and he expected that the pressure put upon them would make them reconsider that propo sal. It was spoken of as a check; but complete withdrawal simply meant thtowing all the cost upon the local bodies. Xo remarks that, had been made, about extravagance could "apply to South Canterbury. Workhouses were nob required here as they were a* home, on aeiouvt of the number/of ''caauals" there.—(We call them "swaggers" here, said a mem her.) —To help '_ able-bodied nien was to make -paupers of them. Mr Ciaigie' s motion of thanks was carried with applause.