BOROUGH VIEWPOINT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 65, 16 April 1943, Page 5

BOROUGH VIEWPOINT

PROPOSED HOSPITAL LOAN

NO SUPPORT FOR PROTEST

The letter from the Rangitaiki Branch of the New Zealand! Farmers' Union to the Borough Council, setting out its protest against the levying of increased taxes to meet the' proposed new Hospital loan of £45,000, failed to find any active support from the Council at its <' meeting last Monday. The City fathers merely received the let- 1 ter preferring to stand by their 1 original policy of vigorously op- i posing the method of Hospital < financing in its present form, but of sympathising with the local Hospital Board in its pre- ( sent predicament. * 1 Cr Canning considered the matter j a very vital one, which concerned j the borough ratepayers. He strongly favoured the suggestion from the County Council that the new building scheme should be shelved until such time as the Government had clarified its. policy with regard to hospital financing generally. The i Council he thought, should, identify i itself with the County Council in its deputation to, the Board. The County Deputation The Mayor: .What deputation? I know nothing of it. Cr Canning: Well .you ought to. The ratepayers are saying that we arc doing nothing. A loan such as this is a big thing and its time to call a halt, until the. Government's policy is defined.. The Mayor: I heard something casually about a deputation but there has been no invitation to the Council. We're not in it! Cr Canning: Well its for us to move. The Mayor: We've fought this hospital rating question as much as any body and we can say that we will fight the rating aspect of lit again. But I think we recognise that the Hospital Board has a difficult job these days. It has to meet the position when there is a shortage' of accommodation. It is their job. I think they have done it well under all the circumstancesi. English System Compared' Cr Shapley agreed, stating that in a growing district such as Whakatanc, there was bound to be a demand for increased accommodation. It would be folly for any person or body to stand in the Avay of the extensions which were dedicated, to the care of the sick. It had been alleged that the Social Security scheme was filling the hospital. He preferred to think that people were merely receiving their monies worth of treatment which hitherto had been denied them. He compared the system of voluntary contribution in England for the maintenance of hospitals and declared that New Zealand was miles ahead under the Social Security system. For that reason he would not have lent himself to a deputation which aimed at delaying the construction of a building essential to the district. Abuses Alleged Cr Canning agreed, but maintained that it was useless *to argue against the fact that, the hospital was to-day being used as a convenience. One could - get accommodated even with a sore toe. It was follj r to say that, the people were unlicalthier to-day than previously. He knew of a case w'herc a sufferer with influenza had gone into the institution merely because, his wife wanted to play golf and could not look after him at home. Cr Creeke agreed that there were too many minor cases sent, to the institution which should be treated at home. Other comments from councillors indicated a similar train of thought, till mention of the local medical practitioners and the part they played in the position, brought the Mayor to his feet. "The doctors/' he said, "are absolutely overworked. It is ridiculous to-day, what they are expected to do. They are only human and cannot possibly carry on as they are doing." - The subject was then dropped.