H.—23

1893. NEW ZEALAND.

HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS IN THE COLONY. (REPORT ON THE), BY THE INSPECTOR OF HOSPITALS.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Inspectoe of Hospitals to the Hon. the Ministee of Education. Sic, —. I have the honour to lay before you the following report on the charitable institutions and hospitals of the colony : — Last year I dealt fully with the weak points of our Charitable Aid Act. Nothing of importance has occurred this year to alter the position, except a fresh outbreak of the difficulty between the Wellington United District Board and the Wellington Benevolent Society. After careful inquiry and observation, I am convinced that the difficulty is insuperable under the existing law. Some means must be found for overcoming, or, at any rate, mitigating the difficulty of tying together for rating purposes the country districts and the large centres to which the sick and poor naturally gravitate. The defective provisions of the Act, as to what "maintenance " of hospital buildings legally means, combined with the large grant made to the Dunedin Hospital, have had the effect of bringing before the Government such large demands for new hospital-buildings in other places, that very grave difficulty- has been experienced in dealing with these claims. A change in the law is urgently needed to deal with this matter. The total expenditure for hospital and charitable aid for the year has been £153,955 16s. Bd., showing an increase of £9,014 19s. lid. over that of the previous year. This increase is owing to the founding of the following new institutions : The Palmerston North Hospital, at a cost of £2,456, of which £2,282 18s. was for new buildings; the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, Auckland, at a cost of £3,780 ; the Jubilee Home, Wanganui, £890; and the Benevolent Home, Wellington, at a cost of £2,555. All these institutions were urgently required. The last, especially, has greatly relieved the difficulties of the Wellington Benevolent Society, though, owing to the delay in comprehensive legislation dealing with this subject, the trustees were obliged to build in a position which cannot long meet the requirements of the district. lam bound, however, to say that they have made the best use of the means at their disposal. I made a careful inspection of the Homes and Befuges maintained under the Act, and found that they were all carefully looked after by the local authorities. The difficulties of providing new buildings under the Act have here, as in the case of the hospitals, been found so great as to still cause great embarrassment, especially at Napier and Taranaki.

ABBOWTOWN HOSPITAL. Number of patients on 31st March, 1892 ... ... ... 5 Admitted during the year ... ... ... ... 84 Total under treatment ... ... ... 89 Discharged ... ... ... ... ... ... 81 Died ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Bemaining on 31st March, 1893 .. ... ... ... 5 Sex. —62 males, 27 females. Localities from which Patients came. —Arrow and Arrowtown, 35; Gibbston and Kawarau, 15; Macetown, 20; Cardrona, 7; Skipper's, 7-; Arthur's Point, 2; Wanaka, 3. Country. —England, 19; Ireland, 17 ; Scotland, 16; New Zealand, 22; Victoria, 9; Tasmania, 1; Switzerland, 1; Austria, 1; China, 2 ; born at sea, 1. I—H. 23.