WAIKATO SANATORIUM

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14722, 12 August 1921, Page 5

WAIKATO SANATORIUM

OLD MEN'S HOME SITE CAMBRIDGE BOROUGH'S DISFAVOUR NO DEFINITE DECISION REACHED. The Cambridge Borough Council wrote to the Waikato Hospital Board yesterday stating that they received •'with absolute disfavour the suggestion that Te Waikato Sanatorium, subsequent to its closing to consumptives, should be used as an old men's home." The reasons for closing the institution as a sanatorium" appeared to the Council to apply equally in the matter of re-opening, viz.— (1) Its inaccessibility for the visits of relatives of inmates; (2) its isolation from a population centre and subsequent hardship on the inmates in their declining years; and (3) the inevitable high cost of maintenance. "The attitude," the Council's communication added, "taken up by . the Cambridge representative in the discussion, as reported in the Waikato Times of 15th inst., does not represent the wishes of the Council, nor, in their opinion, those of the community." The chairman said that the resolution carried a month previously was for the Board to visit the site, but this had been deferred until the Board had considered the communication now Dafore them. Mr Dickinson, in moving that the communication be received, did not think that the Council should have expressed an opinion until the Board had come to a definite arrangement in regard to Te Waikato. So far the Board had not decided. This was not solely a Cambridge matter, so far as he was concerned. Mr Tristram, while not favouring the locality as a suitable one for an old men's "home, said that they should not vote until they had carried out the inspection at Te Waikato. Mr Barton said that he intended to move that the Board take no further action in regard to Te Waikato, but if the majority of the Board favoured carrying-out the inspection he was prepared to fall in with their wishes. Mr Teasdale thought that Te Waikato would be a very suitable place for the requirements. - The Board received the letter, and resolved to carry out the visit of inspection at an early date.