SALARIES OF HOSPITAL STAFF.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14979, 28 May 1914, Page 5

SALARIES OF HOSPITAL STAFF.

CCmPARISOX WITH WELLINGTON.

*i if- ™ aiier of saJaries paid to the h.ghor officials at the Cliristchurch Hospital was discussed at the meeting of the North Canterbury.Hospital and Charitable Aid Board yesterday. llr H. B. Sorensen moved: "That the recommendations of tho Finance Committee, rejected at the previous meetins, that increases of salary should be granted to Dr. Scott and Miss Thurston, should be reconsidered." Mr Sorensen said that it would bo manifest to members after perusal ot documents from Wellington that the payments were not adequate. Dr. Scott had been appointed at a salary that was not a maximum, and he should bo encouraged in his profession. The salary in Dunedin was £800, and in Wellington £1000. If tho Board had an efficient servant, he should be paid properly. The same could be said of tho matron. In reply to a protest by H. J. Otley that tho Board was going back on a promise by tho committee, Mr W. W. Tanner said that the promise was quite unauthorised, and if six men were going to run tho Board the other fourteen might as well stand aside. It was unfortunate that members, who did not look at their reports, were in the habit of savin- thatChristchurch was tho leading .iospital, but it was realJv the fourth largest. Wellington, at "March 31st, 1!)13, had 295 in-patients; Auckland 271; Dunedin. 2i'l; and Christchurch, 168. Hβ admitted that tho Lnratchurch figures had risen to abouo IJJ, but very soon thirty patients would be transferred to the Coronation Home. Wellington had a medical superintendent in fact as well as in name. Ho had a staff under him, and controlled all institutions. What was the. position in Chrisrchurch ? The Board had a medical superintendent in name only. Ho was practically administrator and house surgeon of the Hospital only, and every one of the separate institutions was Under tho control of a paid doctor. In fact, the department in the Christchureh Hospital run by Dr. Pearson was absolutely independent of any control by tho medical superintendent. His title wa-s a misnomer, and there was no parallel with Dr. Hardwick Smith. It would be time enough to give, an increase when, by several years' sorvice, the officer had earned it. A salary of £700 and a freo house would bo a ,very handsome remuneration.

Mr Tanner went on to say that he had just come across a return of tho nursing staff at March 31st, 1910. The total number, from the matron to the smallest probationer on trial, was fiftvfive, and tho total salaries £1670. *A re-issue of tho return in the last few days showed that the number on the nursing staff had increased to eightynine and the salaries to £3283. With regard to the way in which steadily and insensibly the saluries and staffs had crept up, ho would only say that Christchurch had a larger staff in' proportion to its size, than any other hospital in New Zealand. It had leaked out that there were as many paid attendants for the hospital and other institutions as thero were patients inside them. There were 183 attendants in connexion with the Hospital ; alono. The chairman, replying to Mr Tanner, said that the Finance Committee, on receipt of Dr. .Scott's application in October, had referred it to • the Board for favourable consideration in March. Mr Tanner: But the knowledgo was confined to-members of the • committee until Mnrch.

Mr 0. Bradley said that he was not opposed to the. .increase .of salaries, but he objected . to increasing expenditure, and the reopening of matters already settled.

Mr A. H. Turnbull said that ho would strongly support the motion. Incidentally, ho considered that Mr Tanner had presented some facts that did not bear on the case, and withheld facts ' that did, notably, the fact that in the last four years the pathological department and the isolation ward had accounted for a largo expenditure. A salary-of £000 was inadequate. He should now receive £700, on the understanding that the salary should increase by annual increments of -£50 until it reached £800, /when it should stop. The Board did not want perfunctory service; it wanted the whole time and attention of its officers.

Mr (r. Scott said- that the salary was £600 with a free hope worth £100 a year, free lighting, firing, and garden attendance. If that was not as good as £800 it was pretty near it. The ratepayers were getting tired of the increases.

Mr W. H. Cooper said that the City Council spent hours wrangling over the increase in its workmen's wages, while tho Board glibly considered hundreds. His supporters were thoroughly disgusted with the increase in Hospital expenditure.

Dr. Fenwick .said that the Boardjiad made the mistake of starting Dr. Scott at the salary that hi-s predecessor had left off at after eleven year*' service. Ifc would have been better to start at >\ lower. salary, with animal increments. He would vote for tho motion, although ho did not commit himself to an increase of £100. . ■

The motion was rejected by ten votes to nine.