THE TAIHAPE HOSPITAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 13976, 8 May 1913, Page 4

THE TAIHAPE HOSPITAL.

When the -. Taihape Hospital was established the Wanganui District Hospital Board decided to; appoint Aa surgeon at £IOO a year, a more retaining fee for the services of a; duly qualified practitioner who was allowed to carry on private practice. The medico who was honoured with the '‘appointment also had charge of a priVatis hospital,. and the Board, rightly or wrongly,, subsequently decided to appoint ’a-, resident house surgeon at salary of £250 a. year and house 1 allowance, making it a condition that ho should not take private practice. At the last' meeting of the Board the Inspector-General wrote to the effect that “it ■ seemed a somewhat unnecessary expem.e to the ratepayers to appoint a house surgeon at a salary of ■£2 so for so small a hospital, When it would have been quite possible to have obtained the services of one .of the local medical men engaged in general practice.. An institution the size -of the Taihapo Hospital should not require the whole-, time services l of ‘ a medical man if such, an institution - is';'used for the, purpose it was originally' intended.” The Taihapo Times is of the same opinion As Dr. Yalintino, and. in a recent issue says:

The appointment of a resident house involved not only an extra expenditure of £2OO a year, but the building'. of ..accommodation for- the new officer, anil that, not, having*! yet been, provided the Board is paying lor, hotel accommodation at;the rate of probably another £ 100 a year or .more, so. that at tlio present time there, is being thrown away £3OO of the ratepayers’ money. Why? The Board alone knows. The remarkable feature of this policy of squander is that the Board, while,,.haying, all This money, to spare on a fad, yet, insists, on the guarantors (who camo.to the rescue when tlio Board stuck up the whole building project unlses .£IOO a year was promised towards 1 maintenance for five years) paying oyer this annual impost. Kb wonder the Inspector-General condemns the Board’s action in toto. For inconsistency this stop is about the limit. Under no circumstances can the action of the Board bo justified. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that in the new departure there was, as wo were led to believe might-bo the case, som© idea of enlarging, the scope of the Hospital, the proper course would have been to have delayed action until this was done, but in view of. the petty jealousy which has animated the Board 1 in their dealings with the Taihape District Hospital it would bo the height of folly to expect anything but • curtailment rather than expansion. No doubt the member of this district will deem it his duty to endeavour to have the light of day-focussed on the Board’s policy towards tho Hospital which has proved such a' boon to this district. Now that there are’ four doctors in Taihape there is every reason why tho fullest use should be made of tho Hospital. Its claims on the people of. tho district are fully recognised, and they are proud of its success; but to play fast aud loose with the ratepayers’ money is a course that should bo resisted Strenuously. If the Board has so much money to waste there is certainly jib- justification for wringing ,£IOO a year out of the pockets of the willing few. Tho case is one for inquiry, and the Department might well take the matter in hand.