The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1913. A WEST COAST EXPOSURE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1756, 22 May 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1913. A WEST COAST EXPOSURE.

An amazing and in some respects shocking state of things in connection with the working of the West land Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is disclosed in the report of Mr. J. S. Evans, S.M., who was appointed by tlie Government in November last to inquire into the administration of the Board. Thcprincipal matters subjected to _ investigation related to irregularities arising out of the payments drawn by members of tho Board in the way of travelling allowances and expenses, and tho facts discovered and set out by the Commissioner in his report not only afford evidence of a most astonishing laxity on the part of tho Board as a whole, but indicate also a mean and petty ire of oflice which is deserving of the strongest reprobation. We have grown accustomed to expect from those who offer their services in honorary public. capacities, some measure of selfsacrifice and'a willingness to submit to some personal inconvenience, in a desire to render worthy service to the. community; and in jio direction has this fine public spirit been nii.it; generously displayed than in connection with tiie administration cf. Hospital and Charitable Aid. Tho Westland Hospital and Charitable Aid Hoard which held office hetvccu 1910 and 1012 appears to have been.

what wo hope and have no doubt is, the rare exception to this rule—not all its members apparently, thong': all appear hlamcable for the laxity which permitted the state of things complained of to continue for ''0 long, it will perhaps be recalled that some months ago we reprinted from the West Coast Times some dis-

quieting facts concerning the travelling allowances and expenses paid to members of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board and its secretary. Tho Audit Department, it seems, mid refused to pass or objected to some of the vouchers relating to these payments, and the report of the Commissioner now makes it clear that in the majority of cases at least there was every reason why such objection should be raised.

_ It is impossible to give anything like a full outline of the facts as set out in the Commissioner's report, and the evidence attached theretv. but an example or two of what has been going on will servo to inlimte the spirit and methods of cert;!in members of the Board. One of the first acts of the Board on its inception was to pass a resolution fixing' the allowances for members Board meetings as follow:—£3 ss. for those coming from Ross an i Kumara; . Is. from Rimu and lianicri; while those members who lived in Hokitika, where tho "iic.'tings were held, wore to be allowed 10s. 6d. These allowances have been paid where claimed irrespective of the actual expenses incurred as prescribed by Section 32 of the Hosuitals and Charitable Aid Act. In addition to these allowances, a further payment of £l Is. per month was provided for each member cf i!;e House Committee Jnr risilinq the. Hospital, and paid also irrespective of the actual expense. The Hospital is about a mile and a half from the centre of the town. The resolutions of the Board fixing these payments, irrespective of actual costs incurred, are, the Commissioner holds, niha vires; and all payments made under the resolutions are irregular, although in several cases the amounts paid were not unreasonable nhcre trap-hire was necessary in order to attend meetings of tho Board. Vow for some illustrations of how the resolutions were turned to use. The Chairman of the Board at the timo was a gentleman named M'Guican. For some reason which is not very clear he appears to have entered into a very curious arrangement with the secretary, which should be more fully cleared up than the Commissioner's report appears to do. Perhaps it would be as well to quote the actual words of the Commissioner on this point:'

the amounts drawn by and paid to John l'eake, jim., .secretary, these arc ostensibly drawn as his travelling allowance and expenses. As a matter of fact the secretary and tho chairman (Mr. M'Guigan) divided these amounts between them, tho chairman getting tho larger share. The amounts in the vouchers are based ou a claim by the secretary and chairman of J!1 Is. per day each lor their time, aud were so appropriated by them. There is no minute or resolution" of tho board authorising tho pnyment of this amount either to tho chairman or to the secretary. In view ot Section 32 it appears to me that these payments to (lie chairman are illegal, and the payments to tho secretary were unauthorised. The expenses charged in the vouchers are. in my opinion, excessive, even if the visits and inspections had been authorised. . . . I cannot find that it was necessary 'for the secretary to accompany the chairman on these visits, and in corroboration of this ho has not accompanied the present chairman (Mr. . Kennedy) in any visit made by .him sinco April, 1312, nor has any inconvenience arisen through his not doing so. . . . In the absence of a more satisfactory explanation, I am forccd to the conclusion that tho chairman (Mr. M'Guigan) took the secretary with him for the purnoso of claiming these allowances and naving them passed or paid in the name of the secretary with whom he afterwards divided tho expenses.

The payments drawn by the secretary in this, manner during 1910-11 amounted to the very respectablo total of £213 19s. Gd. Of this amount (according to the secretary's version, which is practically assented to by the Chairman, Mr. M'Guigan) the Chairman received £142 lis. Gd., being £71 3s. Gd. for hire of his (the Chairman's) own trap, and half of £142 lis., the amount claimed at the rat's*" of £l Is. per day. It should be further .explained, and we again quote the report to do so, that

the invariable method adopted by the chairman and secretary was to make tho visits [which produced tho travelling expenses aud allowances] and ou tho same day draw the amounts by means of tho vouchers. In no ense were these vouchers submitted to the Finance Committee before payment. In some cases they were authorised by the chairman of the Finance Committee, but for the most part they were authorised by Jlr. M'Guigan himself. Tho cheques wero signed by Mr. Bock [chairman of tho Financo Committee] and Mr. Jt'Guigan, and countersigned by Mr. Pealre as treasurer, and paid forthwith. Some of them we're ineluded in the recorded amounts passed by tho Finance Committee, but appear always at the end of tho list; some appear at tho end of tho list, but were not included in tho recorded amounts passed; and some were neither included in the list nor otherwise recorded or passed.

. . . Til all cases, apart altogether from tho illegality the charges are unreasonable and excessive, while in many cases they were unnecessary.

In our news columns to-day will be found a summary of the Commissioner's 'report to which we would refer our readers for fuller enlightenment conccrnincr the unedifying methods of certain of the members this Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. When the Chairman of such a Board can charge fees for attendance at more meetings than actually were held and excuse himself when it is pointed out months afterwards by claiming that he charged his visits on Hospital business (visits of which there are no records except the, vouchers for the cheques paid to him) as though they were meetings, it will bs readily understood that the business of the Board was carried on in ft very !ax and disquieting fashion. It is to be presumed that the Government will take such steps as av necessary to sscuve that such illoga] ; - ties as have occurrcd shall be righted.