WESTPORT DISTRICT HOSPITAL.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 835, 11 July 1871, Page 2

WESTPORT DISTRICT HOSPITAL.

•S ANNUAL REPORT. We publish the fourth annual report, presented by the outgoing Committee of the above institution, to the meeting of subscribers, held at the Court House, Westport, on the sth inst. Appended is also the report of the Medical Officer and the Treasurer's balance sheet for the year ended June 30th, 1871. report op the committee. The statistical and financial particulars of the Westport District Hospital, for the past year are embodied in the report of the Medical Officer and the balance sheet of the Honorary Treasurer, both of which are annexed to this report. The information to be derived from these sources leaves very little for the Committee to say upon the general condition of the Hospital. It is desirable, however, to call the attention of subscribers and the new Committee, in a general way, to the financial condition of the institution, and to the probability, or ortherwise, of the continuance of the Committee's ability to maintain the institution upon its present scale, and under the existing arrangement between the Government and themselves.

The balance sheet presented last year showed that there was a deficiency in the fund of £230 16s lid, which was made good by an additional subsidy from the Government. This deficit was due, in a great measure, to the cost incurred by permanent additions and improvements to the building—items of expenditure which it has been unnecessary to repeat during the past year. The deficiency for the year has not, therefore, been greatamounting only to £59 7s lOd, which also has been met by an additional remittance from the Government. The vote of the Provincial Council for each year takes effect from the Ist of April; all preceding' votes, whether or not there is aßy balance upon them unexpended, coming to an end upon the 31st March of each year. The vote for the Westport Hospital for the financial year, now current, is £9oo—of that amount £250 has already been paid over, leaving £650 as the amount of ihe vote now available to meet public subscriptions in the proportion of two thirds to one third, but a new vote fur the purpose may be expected next session as usual. It becomes now (a serious question whether the public subscriptions will be equal to one third of the working expenses of the Hospital during the ensuing year ? The result of the recent canvass for subscriptions is not yet in the hands of the Committee, but, from the general pecuniary depression that prevails and from the departure of so many miners from the Northern Terraces to the Inangahua where their work has scarcely yet begun to be remunerated, the Committee have great doubts whether their successors will be able to commence their charge with so large a fund at their disposal as there was at the commencement of the twelvemonth just expired. The new Committee will be able to judge best how this state of things is to be met. It is enough for the outgoing Committee to call attention to it, and to conclude their report with the hope that their successors may be able to carry on the *j Hospital during the ensuing year without finding it necessary to make any reduction that will seriously impair the usefulness of the institution.

MEDICAL OFFICER'S BEPOBT. In Patients: Number of patients admitted during year 70 Remaining in Hospital Ist July, 1870 ... ..; ... ... 7 Total number of patients treated 77 Of these there were discharged— Cured 47 Believed 11 JJade out-door patients 5

Transferred to Provincial Hospital 2 Died 3 Remaining in Hospital 9 77 The average number of in-patients treated during each month was twelve to thirteen. The cause of death iu each of the above cases respectively was—(l.) Abscess of the brain (2.) Chronic disease of the larynx (3.) Compound fracture of leg and injury to spine. The districts from which m-door patients have been received, and the numbers from each were as follows : Northern Terraces 20 Upper Buller, Lyell, and Inangahua 19 Township of Westport 14 Addison's Plat ... 12 Various places north of Orawaiti 9 South of Buller 3

The proportion of surgical cases has been greater this year than previously, and is likely to be still further increased, whilst owing to the distance of the districts, whence most of them came, they reach the Hospital under unfavourable circumstances. As illustrating this remark, I may mention that the three fatal cases previously quoted came from the Upper Buller district—two of them after prolonged illness, and the third, a case requiring primary amputation, only arrived some fifty hours after the accident. I have to repeat a former recommendation as to the providing of a mortuary or dead-house within the Hospital precincts; and, if it is the intention of the Committee to admit cases of contagious disease, to suggest the desirability of erecting a detached ward for the accommodation of such cases. Out-patients.—These amounted to 45 during the year. As the majority of the cases have necessarily not been of a severe character, I have not thought it necessary to classify them. treasurer's report. Honorary Treasurer's balance sheet year ended July 3rd, 1871: To subscriptions and ama- £ s d teur entertainment ... 346 4 3 Government subsidy ... 692 8 6 Extra advance made by the Government 57 11 6 Maintenance contribution 39 18 0 Balance against following year 1 16 4 £1137 18 7 By payments by cheque... 1130 9 7 Petty payments ... 7 9 0 £1137 18 7 R. "Whtte, Hon. Treasurer. J. Graves, Auditor. J. W. Humphrey, Hon Sec. DEPARTURE OF THE POLITICAL PRISONERS.

We take the following from the " Lyttelton Times " of the 28th ult : " Messrs John Flood, Thomas Francis O'M. Baines, Thomas Fennell, John Edward Kelly, and John O'Neil Golding, left Lyttelton, yesterday, ■in the barque Queen of the South, for Newcastle, N.S.W. They were accompanied to Lyttelton by a large circle of their countrymen, some of whom proceeded in the barque for some distance outside the Heads, returning by the B.s. Gazelle, which towed the Queen of the South out of harbour. Before leaving, Mr Flood, speaking on behalf of his confreres and himself, referred shortly to the peculiar circumstances under which they had landed in New Zealand, and expressed his hearty thanks for the sympathy which had been expressed towards them, not only by Irishmen, but by people of all nations in Canterbury. For his countrymen here, he could only say that in hospitality, generosity, and patriotic spirit they were in every sense worthy of the land of their birth, and so also were their compatriots on the West Coast. In leaving Canterbury, he could not give sufficient expression by words to the dictates of his heart; he felt more than he could give expression to, but he could assure them that he should ever think with grateful remembrance of his countrymen in Canterbury, and those of other countries with whom he had come in contact during his sojourn in Christchurch. The health of the five was then "proposed, and drunk with due honours; and after toasting the health of Captain Adair, and wishing him and, his passengers lon voyage, the company left the vessel, giving repeated cheers, which were quite as feelingly responded to by those on board the barque. The following information has been supplied by the gentleman who was appointed in Christchurch to act as treasurer, by a meeting convened for the purpose of raising contributions in behalf of the political offenders. In Christchurch, the sum of £IOO was subscribed; £IOO was collected in Greymouth; £IOO Charlestown; and and £22 15s in Westport; making a total of £322 15s. Out of this snm the political offenders paid £l5O for their passages to Newcastle—£loo cash, and the remainder to be paid to the captain on arrival at that port.

The number of Volunteers in Great Britain in 1870 was 193,893, of whom 170,671 were " efficients."

AMUSING BANKRUPTCY EXAMINATION. (From the "f, C. Times.") Among the bankruptcy cases heard lately by Judge Ward there was one in which the principal person interested, rejoicing in the name of Green, afforded some amusement to bis Honour and the two solicitors ergaged, by the wholesome simplicity and the naivete of his answers. He had been a working miner and baker by turns, and for bis bakery business in German or Greek's Gully, he bad received some small credit from Mr W. Evans, Mr Duncan Campbell, Mr Ogilvie, and Mr Olsen. His creditors had not pressed him. At least Evans and others " had told him they would give him time." Mr Button: And what made you go insolvent ? Green : Because I was threatened to be put in gaol if I did not pay my debts.

Mr Button: Who threatened to put you in gaol ? Green: Mr Olsen. I " heard " he was going to put me in gaol. It was rumoured about the place that, he was, and business were bad, and I had a large family, and I always told him that I would pay him if I got a chance. Mr Button: And because you merely heard that Mr Olsen threatened, you Green : I got a letter, too. Mr South : Here is a letter from the very respectable firm of Messrs Button and Eeid. Green: Aud he summoned me afterwards. Mr Button: Here is a list of sums owing to you. Will you swear that these amonnts (reading a list of names) are owing to you by these persons ? Green : I'm generally out working. My wife keeps the books. I don't know the amount; but if it's down there, I'll swear to it. Mr Button: You know nothing about these accounts but what your wife told you ? Green: No, Sir. Mr Button: And you will swear to what your wife says ? Green: Yes. His Honour: He swears to the accounts on a general principle-—on his wife's word. Mr Button: Do you hold a business license? Green: No. Mr Button: Do you carry on business without a license ?

Green : Well, there's no business to be done. Mr Button: You are a baker by trade ? Green: Yes; but I have been mostly working in the rivers. Mr Button: And how do you carry on vour baking ? Green : My wife does all the baking, Sir. His Honour: 3 our wife seems to be a valuable womau. Mr Button: One in a thousand. (To the bankrupt) You have said that the house at German Gully belongs to Mr Prentice, but you put up the oven. Isn't the oven the beat part of it? Green; I suppose it is. A bakehouse isn't much good without its oven. Mr Button: What were wages when you paid a man to assist you in erecting the oven ? Green: £3 a week. Mr Button: And what are wages now—£3 10s, is it not ? Green: If you can get it. Mr Button: What property have you now ? Green: All the property I have got is a claim in the middle of the Arahura river.

Mr Button: by what means do you work it P Have you no sluice boxes ? Green: It's an island in the middle of the river—on the beach. Mr Button: What ground have you marked off? Green : We marked off no ground. We took the whole island. We took the water from one side of the island to the other—about ten feet. There are three of us in it. Mr Button: and what did you dispose of your other claim for ? Green: For nothing. It wasn't buyable. Mr South .- What is your reason for saying that you wouid swear to what your wife would say ? Is it because you know she speaks the truth ? Green: Tes. His Honour: He may have sufficient reason for swearing to what his wife says —he has been married for some time.

Mr South: You were previously working in a claim in German G-ully ? Green: I was working there for six weeks. We were working out a little dead horse. Mr Sout'i: And what was that ? Green: There was a slip on the terrace, and we had to take it away before we got into oar tunnel. Mr South : And, having moved that dead horse, what did you make ? Green : We made £4 a man for six weeks. His Honour : This bankrupt admits that he knows nothing whatever about his accounts. Nothing appears to have come out to justify the suspicion of fraud, but I would not grant an order of discharge until the acounts are produced. The case has been productive of much amusement by his intense confidence in his wife, and I must say that, under the circumstances she would be a most invaluable and interesting witness. The examination of the bankrupt himself has furnished us with nothing new except as to what constitutes "a dead horse."

Mr South : There ia just sign about the bankrupt—he has not yet paid his lawyer. " The case was adjourned till the 4th of August for the production of ac« counts to the Provisional Trustee.