CENTRALISATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 58, 2 December 1907, Page 5

CENTRALISATION.

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID ADMINISTRATION. Reform is sadly needed in regard to the constitution, definition, and limitation of duties of those useful, and at times hardworking, bodies that attend to hospital and charitable aid administration. Wellington is particularly heavily weighted in this respect, and confusion, if not bewilderment, not infrequently assails tho stranger who seoks to profit by " tho way they do things iii Wellington." As a matter of fact, this city has worked into a system of administration that is not by any means a pattern for other places to follow —not that there is any reflection intended in saying this. It is the system of multiplying tho bodies that is at, tho root of tho matter. In.the case of hospital administration, for example, there are tho Hospital Trustees, who administer tho affairs of the hospital proper, the Home for Incurables, and the annexes for consumptives. The Board receives its funds through the distributing body, the Wellington Hospital Board. The latter Board is not, however, limited to distnbur tivo duties, for it has direct control oyer the Otaki Hospital and the Consumptive Sanatorium at Otaki. And, further, 1 wlnlo tho Hospital Board controls a district as far from Wellington as "the Ilorowhenua County, it has no jurisdiction'whatever in tho Wairarapa. It is an overy-day occurrenco -for someone wanting.to know or do something in. connection with the Wellington Hospital to communicate with the secretary of tlio Hospital Board —and it is (juito rational to do so —instead of with the secretary of the Hospital Trustees, and almost as frequently lotters reach the secretary of tho Trustees that are intended for tho Board's secretary. " _ . ■So great'is the confusion that exists, even in - t-ho : minds of Government officials who are'so very correct —that it is not unusual for largo subsidies of £1000 or oier to bo paid into tho Trustees' account instead of tho Board's, or vice versa. ■ - ; In other New Zealand cities the two bodies do not exist; the Hospital Board controls tho - hospital-' and* allied .. institutions, dircct, but Wellington has a way of its own: Tho position v is similar as - regards ' tho Wellington and Wairarapa Charitable Aid Board. It controls no institution direct; as do Charitable -Aid Boards in. other Dominion cities, and .people .in need of charitable aid must not (in Wellington) approach the Charitable Aid Board, though it would .bo imagined that that would bo the natural thing to do. They must, make application to tho Benevolent Institution, or tho trustees of other' institutions engaged in tho dispensation of charity. •' - This confusion of local bodies lias not ucen altogether overlooked by those in authority, and 'a Bill amending tho law relating to tho management of public hospitals and charitable institutions, and to the distribution of charitable aid, was circulated during, tho session, but was, on account of the rush of bigger issues, not considered, but is- still alive, and there is a proposal afoot to convene a conference of representatives of Hospital and Charitable Boards from all parts of New Zealand to analyse and discuss tho measure at some timo before next sessioii. Tho Bill provides for the establishment of certain districts containing sub-distriots. For each district there shall bo a Hospital and. Charitable- Aid Board, consisting of repre-' sentatives of- sub-district committees, and cach chairman of . a ;sub-dist.rict committee to be a member of the Board, ex officio. Clause 18 - provides t|iat the Board shall have tho general superintendence and control of every institution, within its district wholly or partly ma.inUined out of the funds of the Board, and of tho distribution of charitable aid within tho district. Clause 19 states that tho Board may'from time to timo applyany of tho moneys in its hands, in such proportions and in such manner as it thinks fit:—(a) In and towards acquiring any land requiixd as a site for an institution; or (b) in and towards tho,erection and maintenance of any building or institution, with' all necessary ■ outhouses ? .;ap,di l ;<;nfllosuEcs,for,,) the: purpose of being used as all-institution under this Act; or (c) in and.towards repairs, additions to, or-alterations of any existing or ■future institution or building annexed or belonging thereto; or (d) in or towards- the maintenance or relief of indigent, sick, infirm,, or aged people; or (o) generally in payment, of all charges and expenses incurred, by tho Board.in carrying out this Act.

. From theso clauses alone it will be seen that the Minister (the Hon. G. Fowldsj is awaro of the confusion that exists, and strongly favours centralisation of, control with respect to hospital and charitablo aid administration. •