The Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1908. HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9303, 1 August 1908, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1908. HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION.

> The little gathering at the Hospital >n Thursday night, when the matron, iiiss Ewart, was presented with a substantial recognition of her services by ♦he staff and other friends, was quite «ne of the pleasantest of .its kind. It was thoroughly representative, too, of those sections of the community whose opinions the retiring matron is likely *o value. * Under these circumstances it Is, perhaps, hardly necessary to point io the BigniScant fact that tho Hospital Boartd does not appear to have oeen officially represented. The medical and ulerical staffs, tho nurses, the lay com- . munity "and the outside proresaons /Joined together in testifying to tho unVarying courtesy, ability and admims- , tratitP^capacity of the matron, and • 'the resident surgeon's enthusiastic appreciation of his colleague ought to be. Sufficient to command for her the choice •f engagements in the leading hospital* of the dominion. But what the Weral -public is waiting to know is ; jJrhere the necessity aroso for the Hospital losing, the services of a capable ■ Svrant of over twenty years' standing. She Board! lias been suspiciously reti«nt concerning the details which led . «p to J£iss Ewart's retirement. JJut rt ' ■■'% knowg'ifoat upon several occasions ' fhft-mat-con, who has been in receipt oi '^princely salary of £120 per annum, : fa an institution which pays its chief : jrwherwoman £175 a year, has applied successfully to the Board for an inAlthough the Board has lately Wanted increases of a substantial^ nature practically throughout its staff, it Apparently considered 'that the matron WaV in, danger of gettog n<^ too '•uickly, for, without ™uch^ .any ' felanation. it ha* persistently denned ■ '*> bring her salary into line with the U comfortable competencies »t pays •lsewhere'among its staff. It ia inmuj- \ *rial,. of course, that the tr <> ns J» hospitals, where the staffs generally «ro not so liberally treated, ■ ire paid larger salaries than the matron to Christchurch. Little considerations : ; of that sort apparently do not weigh *iih ijuch an august "^T^-f^ •ncei'Myaa tho Hospital Board. But . even 'iffvartl. of long standing have their feelings «nd' their self-respect to ■ conserve, and it is not to bo wondered •t that With the last application for an Increase in salary Miss Ewart hinted fchat, failing her request being granted, »h & would be compelled to forward her resignation. The Board appears to have accepted the alternative cheerfully, and as « reward for the matron for - cutting the Gordian knot with which it - .was faced, it proceeded, with charac'tenstic lojpAabiess, to draft her an o&cial testimonial of so glowing and enthusiastically eulogistic a character ■ that the Board itself would have a diti ficulty in getting past it should Miss Ewart adopt the comic-opera course of being* an applicant for the position, caused by her resignation; On the top. of this prime fatuity the Board proceeded to be discourteous, " "> for, having told Miss EwaTt, in effect, that she was the best matron in the 'dominion and that no hospital was complete without her, but that it could not ifford<to raise her salary of £120 a iear, it promptly proceeded to publicly indorse this statement by advertising * for a new matron at £150 per annum. flChis lastlbn is utterly irreconcilable •with ifie Board's previous attitude, and \ 'while 'ipei^le, remembering its constitution,, do not expect its ad- I ■' • jiiniatoratiwi ' to be brilliant, they 'do look . for it to be at leact '■■ Intelligeitt- and courteous. Not that Ht always is so, by any means. We t We a rvivid recollection of its appointd ing font professional men to its hono- : rary-^taS very long ago. These doctors. were in daily attendance at the Hospitat, giving freely of their timo V and experience, and at the end of the year, "when"" the appointments wero reneyrableV the reward of three of t3io four wiis'to find themselves quietly sidetraokad in favour of other candidates. It jb actions of this sort which bring >"• the- Btfa:M's administration under sus-/ picioa- a add r contempt. There has long ; been a^v^ry uneasy feeling in the city •• with to the inside administra- j tion of the Hospital and 'the arbitrary^ and fet&r'Ohamber methods of the Board ':' io not serv© to allay that uneasiness. t It is to be hoped that a frank and satis- :{'■■• factory explanation of the Matron

iEwart incident 'will be forthcoming at

once. The community cannot afford to have its ablbst and most conscientious servants shouMered out of office at the wbim of any local body.