WAIKATO HOSPITAL FEES.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1415, 13 October 1923, Page 4

WAIKATO HOSPITAL FEES.

LAXITY IN’ COLLECTING OUTSTANDING ACCOUNTS CONTRIBUTING BODIES’ CRITICISM I The criticism that has been levelled at the Waikato Hospital Board by certain local bodies in its territory in regard to the collecting ,of outstanding hospital accounts, brought forth a spirited retort from members at the meeting of the Board at Hamilton on Thursday. Proceedings opened when a letter, which caused some amusement, was received from the Leamington Town Board suggesting mat the Hospital Board should pay more attention to its own affairs by collecting outstanding fees instead of continually bothering local bodies for their quotas to the upkeep of the hospital. Other local bodies also wrote “viewing with alarm the proposed action of the Board to write off a large amount due in hospital fees.” Dignity to he Upheld. At the conclusion of the reading of these letters the secretary, Mr W. J. Conradi, said that the criticism being levelled against the Board and its officers by local bodies bad to come to a bead. The chairman said that the Board had a certain amount of dignity to maintain and it should be remembered that the members were elected by the local bodies themselves, and if I they were not satisfied with the conduct of the Board the remedy was cleanly ’in their own liands. 'Mr' Bailey would like to have it understood that the Board was not going to be continually insulted by local bodies. Mr Wagstaff expressed the opinion that the average collected by the Board was better than that collected by any other hospital board. Mr A. E. Webb did not agree with this, pointing out that the people within the Board’s district were as a whole better able to pay their fees than the majority of town-dwellers. In Mr Webb’s opinion the Board was collecting a much lower percentage than it should, and in his opinion the local bodies were doing quite right in calling the Board’s attention to the fact. “Not Understood.” Mr J. Price said that the local bo- ! dies did not understand the affairs of the Board as they should, and he moved that they be supplied with a statement of accounts outstanding. In seconding the motion Mr Alex- | ander said that it was a case of “not j understood.” ! Mr Barton considered that the staff ' were doing the very best they could } to collect outstanding rates. ' An Impossible Task, j Mr Hill said it was not possible to get blood out of a stone, and the pri- ] mary object of the Board was charity, j (Hear. hear). If the various local bodies were supplied with a few typi- ! cal examples of cases in which it was j proposed to write off the accounts J they would doubtless be convinced of | the desirability of this step. Local Bodies 5 Own Laxity.

Mr Campbell Johnstone caused some amusement by reading through a list of local bodies “who hadn’t paid anything.” It would be much better for the local bodies concerned if they put their own houses in order first and set an example by paying their own quotas. Other members also spoke of the difficulties confronting the Board. With reference to the motion that local bodies should be supplied with a statement of accounts outstanding, the secretary said that the Board by carrying out this suggestion would probably •find itself in a libel action. It was not a fair thing, in any case, that the poor should be pilloried by having their names and addresses distributed to every local body in the district. Finally, the secretary was instructed to consult the Board’s solicitors as to the legality of this course, and the matter then dropped.—Times, Hamilton.