HOSPITAL LOAN CONDEMNED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 75, 25 May 1943, Page 5

HOSPITAL LOAN CONDEMNED

APPEAL TO TOWNSPEOPLE

SUPPORT FOR FARMING COMMUNITY

MR H. G. MeCREADY'S ADDRESS

"I've been criticised as a Bol"shie, a Communist and as a destructive force by many who have known me in this district. Well, if I see anything rotton and unjust I'll condemn it alright and I won't be afraid to -say so. But if there is anything based on sound' Christian lines, thfen I'm all for it. We want to " build such things up. In the • case of the present hospital loan proposal, I want to ask you to -get behind the farmers and help us make this unjust charge on the landowners a national one and not allow it to be pushed through before we have a chance "to learn what the Government intends doing by way of relieving the position."

The above extract was probabiy the keynote to Mr C. H. McCready's address to some fifty ratepayers; in the Caledonian Hall last Thursday evening. Mr McCready though not

as forceful as most of" his audience

anticipated handled his points wcl but seemed to overlook the fact tha ,he was addressing a meeting o

townspeople, who while sympatheti

enough had not come to hear on the. problems an

trials of the farming community.

but rather a criticism of the expensive hospital proposals and the

manner in 'which such cbu'd be over. - conic, or modified from a town dwellers point of view.

The meeting remained attentive «nd sympathetic but apart from a few additional signatures to the "County protest failed to register -any motion of disapproval or otherwise.

Rates Cause Bankruptcy

Mr McCready opened well by •showing his audience an illustration of the devastating effect of what chaotic rating is capablc of -doing here iji Whakatane. He displayed a rate notice served on his own father, by the Whakatane Bor•■ou£h Council in 192:?.. The area was 118 acres of land and the demand totalled £375 17s 6d plus £25 Harbour Board rate, and a 1.0 per cent. • penalty giving a total of £440. The .same land, he said, had been bought three years earlier, (in 1920) when the rates were only £48 annually. '"That rate bankrupted my father," he said, "and so j*ou see what has "happened, can happen,, and will happen, if we allow this ridiculous system of rating to continue." He reminded his listeners that already heavy rating schemes were under consideration —sewerage, aerodrome,, water supply and others. This; with the £45,000 hospital loan Would soon become a crushing burden on the ratepayers which could quite easily reintroduce the period -of chaotic finances which many Whakatane businessmen to-day still had cause to remember. He pointed out further that to allow such a burden of debt, to build up was not playing 'the game -with the men .serving overseas who on their return would be expected to shoulder the responsibility in undertakings in which they had had

no voice whatsoever

Value Wanted for Money

His' only criticism of the hospital loan was that the ratepayers were not getting value for their money. 'Something like £10,000 would, be just given away under the schedule •system ami he would fight that to the last ditch. Illustrating a laxity in hospital affairs lie maintained 'ihat the present, stand-by plant consisted, of an old car engine hitched to a generator ami had cost £300. II would stand by forevfcr in its present state. The boiler too he had been installed at a -cost of £G/4 which was more than a new one. He criticised, the whole of the stand-by plant which the claimed was not worth £6;) altogether. It was to put nn end to such practices that he appealed to the townspeople to back the country dwellers Tip in their endeavour to block the present loan. Lessons From The Past He asked, if the ratepayers had forgotten the lessons of the past. It might be-alright now to," contemplate heavy loans, but what provision was there for a slump period when costs were dearer and wageslower. Did Ave want a repetition of 1932-33.

Why should the money be made a first charge on those who owned a little land. Why wag it not levied on the Post O/l'ice,. the Railways and other public facilities.

This was election year and the Government had already promised consideration of the hospital rating question. All the County dwellers wanted to do was to del'er the present loan unt.il such time as the Government had gone into the case viml stated its policy. The Hoard had refused to do this, though in ; the same breath it had stated that it was not prepared, to go on with the loan if the. tendering system ivas forbidden. This was sheer inconsistency. The farmers felt that they could not carry any more and that the present system of penalising the land must stop. Nurses Home Project With equipment the Nurses Home was costing something like £21,000 --averaging £1000 per nurse. What was wrong! lie was not averse to giving the nurses the best of every thing but to submit to a cost like that was absurd. The Board, on the other hand was apparently quite agreeable to having the sky as; the limit. The threat had been held out that unless the Board agreed it would be emptied out under the terms of the Act. He for one was Willing to go out, but he. quoted other eases where Boards which had defied the Government had eventually Avon their case. The Bay of Plenty Board was simply making a funk hole of the. position.

The actual ward-itself was to cost only £15,000, which compared with the estimate for the Home was ridiculqjis. He cited one medical man who considered that the rambling nature of the hospital building was making the place unmanageable He would like to know the number of miles the nurses had to travel at the present time to reach the far wards. They would soon have to lie supplied with bicycles.

High Standard Accommodation

When he had first been shown through the annexe and the women's ward lie had remarked what a pity that the mothers who were receiving the best of everything were not enabled to go back to homes', where a similar standard of life was maintained. This however became impossible, for the burden of rating to enable these institutions to be maintained had to be carried by the Very homes to which they returned. It was impossible to reach the same standard.

Financial System Condemned

Mr McCready condemned roundly the method of raising the. money, which after all he said was merely bj' book entry. Eighty-five per cent was by costless credit an investment which was protected for the. monied few. It was too good a thing for the average person to be let in, for in jeturn local bodies were prepared to hand over the whole of the county and town security to back up the loan. The- whole countryside went into the pawn shop.

The Farmers' Union had been fighting this system for years but had iailed to make any impression on the system for the Government in its turn was in the hands of those av ho controlled, the finances.

I lie proposed loan was for the duration of 25 years at Sy 2 per cent ioi all th.it time the burden would be upon the ratepayers, Why was it not a national one.

He criticised at some length the Board's handling of the County Council's objection to the loan and pointed out. that the County would carry 4-sths of the responsibility and the town l-sth.

He appealed strongly for the town ratepayer to get behind the County ratepayer and help to have the hospital financing put on a sound •sane basis. Questions Mr J. Creeke asked what Mr McCready expected the meeting to do in order to assist. Mr MeCready replied that the County wanted to have the subject put on the basis of everybody pays and. tliey could assist by signing the requisition of protest at present circulating in the County. "We don't want to raise, the question of town Versus country,"' lie said. "We know that by some of wou we are regarded as something blown in from the bush, but avc want it. on a basis like Hie administration and financing of the sehoo's. in your Borough." Mr F. Lysaght thought the only thing to do was. to take a petition lound objecting to and protesting (Continued in next column)

against the method of financing. As far as lie was concerned he didn't blame the Hospital. Board at all. The institution was over crowded and had to be added, to. If it failed in that the public would be to demand an explanation. He realised at the same time that. the. ratepayer could not go on indefinitely paying increasing rates. Mr McCready replied that the other side was that for another 25 years the burden was going to be foisted on the man who couldn't meet the cost; and who would be forced to go on overdraft to do so. Mr Major suggested that the hospital should be at once if there was' an urgent need for it, and that the method of payment should be fought out after. It would be better that way than to lie unable to eater for the sick. j Mrs Havward said »t.hat the. thing in a nutshell was that the people who used the hospital mainly didn't want to pay and that those who didn t need to use .it. were forced to 'pay. After a number of other questions and answers on similar lines, the meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to Mr McCready by acclamation.