HOSPITAL DISTRICTS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2143, 8 May 1914, Page 4

HOSPITAL DISTRICTS

: i A SECESSION PROPOSAL I .v > V. RIDINGS - } y.'':.'DISSATISFIED SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES ' Thdilo'nl R.lloaton Rhodes (Minis- jj ter..ot"l'ul)!ic llealtli, Hospitals, and Charitable Aid) was interviewed on Wednesday- by. a deputation consisting of Messrs; i'. W. .Venn (Shannon) and j, H-i.Ft'ecmiui! (Otaki), members of the ' Horowhenua County' Council, in refer- j. eneb'to the proposed Reparation of tho Tokomaru and WiroUino Ridings of the Horowhenua County from'tho Wellington Hospital District .'with a view to them being merged in, tho-Palriierston , North Hospital District. . »• Mr. Venn said that they had been . ..Vnske'd' to apologise for other members Q ' ofi the council who had been unavoidably prevented from accompanying ;• litem. They had hojjccl that Dr. Valin- , tiiio, the Inspector-General of Hospitals, ■ would bo present-with tho Minister, so j, tijat tliov might have the views of both «!) tho subject. What tbey wanted to j ' know was whether there was any 0 chanco of the Department and the •; Government altering their decision by p ' part of tho country to go ( ] into tholPalnicrstou North Hospital Dis-. trjet, and the other into tllo Welling- _ • ton District. . --'Tho Minister explained that it was „ ;; tiiiusnal'lfoc heads of Departments to ; attend when deputations interviewed s ?il inistors, unites tho deputations sneci- r ' •- filly so desired. In any caso, Dr. Valintino was unwell at present, and could licit havp ■ attended. Venn; The Department informed us.that there would Jio no. objection to ( ] tho who!a_ county going into the Pal- , rii'erston. North district. Is there anv s ..oljanco of that decision being modified? r Tho Minister: If you arrive at an L , with tho Wellington Hospital c Board you might be able to have a Bill j passed through Parliament giving effect' s • to that; agreement,, ;. Vnn'vjo let the'whole county c ■ '■-Co? "j , •„ • t !! Attitude of the Wellington Board. ■ v fho Minister:- No; -to transfer -the , tidings j-ibut.. P do not think tho Wellington Hospital authorities would agreo , j; ,t<j a subdivision' -of;*hr<f county." l'ou j <( oanuinderstand that if a- Local.Bill is | opposed'in-tho House, it would have j iittlo chance of being passed. J.' VonilV.The'.-■.'Wellington Hospital ( Board agreed to the'proposed transfer : m of tho two northern ridings. - ] f --'The Minister : A member-of tho last \ !S (Imputation made*'a statement to,that , }[• affect, ascorrect, but | ;; f;have had a long conversation with \ if tho chairman of the.-Wellington Hos- : (>' jiital Board- about-the matter, and I j I have also'a. : gapy>of;the:'res6lution.M\: j ,Mr. yienl).: iAb.y,< ; sfhtemerit -made.-on- , that point yvjis.imtado in good faith.: , ,Tho do not' for one "mo-- i mont supposotiithat I was misled purpdsoly. I! You may yourself have been . ,j .ijtisled 'by .misreading -the resolution, ' 'is;;as-.follows: — i : •'{s' "It::was resolved, on the motion )| Jjof Mr/ Ga'rdoribr, seconded by Mr. j; j|Nash,;|that this board offers no w-.^f.obiectjon^ t to_thp .application, of the . .' County" and Levin \\ 'Borough to sover their connection ffpm the Wellington Hospital Dis_thp_jntention ...of. being . ■; combined with the Palmerston 'Nortl*' Board,-providing '-that- the ' ■ proposed severance affects only that , portion of the Horowhenua County which includes the Wirokino and lokomaru Ridings." - .• y :J . \,ort will r 'tli)isV,s;eb , 'th'at it.was the ap-" 1 J;plicatioii the board did not object to. " Mr. Venn: That is not a fair way of i-B putting it. . ■ &' Tho Minister,^Tho..chairman told mo 5$ that .to.''. - tho wisdom eveii' of" p'aSsin'g;:;a resoluwu tion in favour of receiving the applicant. tion; but . I suppose the board thought it only fair to allow, the petitioners to j\' t 'make their representations, and then to give tlieni full consideration. v \ Tha Severance Opposed. "The deputation that made tho state,'mont referred to interviewed nio on '/April 3, 1913," the Min'ister continued, " an d a few weeks later/ I commuhi- 1 ' £ cated with tbo "Wellington Hospital and >:i Cbaritablo Aid Board, .desiring their views with regard to tho petitions'from '.V.. residents of tlie AVirokino *ind-Toko-niaru Hidings, that those ridings 1 -he' ■;;'h merged in the Palmerston North Hos--h nital District. I mentioned to the ■« board that tho petitions referred to wcro' strongly supported by a deputation from the Horowhenua County. ;■ Council. To this communication I rut ceived a reply, dated Juno 25, from ,"..;''lhc secretary of tho Wellington Board as follows:— ■ P ''deferring to your letter No. II and H. 1018 of 21st. ultimo, in which you desire to .obtain the .views of my board with regard to tho transfer of Wirokino "J;, and Tokomaru Eidings of thq Horo- % whenua County from' this district' to the Palmerston North Hospital District, I have tho honour to adviso you that my board; 'at its meeting on 19th •'* instant,' 'adopted a resolution objecting • to severance of part of tho county. No objection will bo made-to tho proposal to merge the whole' of the county in the . Palmerston North Hospital District." Mr. Venn said that on tho . undor- ; • standing that the Department would ; . not object to tho transfer of tho wliolo : . county, they interviewed the Palmer- . .' ston North Board, which declined to take over tho. whole county except on ;' a certain condition.' That condition was " that as soon as practicable after taking the county over 1 he Otaki institutions he closed,which ho did not think the ■ Department would agree to. Now District Proposed, ' Failing that, tho county, or, rather, thrco of, the ridings of tho county, togethorVwitli the borough of Levin -and tbo Otaki Road District, Mr. Venn went ; on to state, wero- anxious- to tako over i'ttbeso iristitutions-and-'form'-a separato hospital district. Was there any chanco a proposition on tboso lines being agreed to? Tho, Minister: That would mean form- .' r ing a now hospital district. ,;.: t Mr. Venn: 1 know that is an objec. ,'tion. « Tho Minister: I do not think thoso "o small ridings would, bo'prepared to build an old and .'other institutions necessary to,a hospital district. Besides, I do not think-the'Otaki Hos- ' pital would bo'largo enough for a baso hospital. Bale hospitals ought "to ,bo ;;.;in the ccntro; of; largc;':;clistj'iets. - . n«d -f. it was not advisable to ■mako' smnlMiospital districts'. ' 1 wishV; tho objectidn to tho trdnsfeC of, tho '-whole;'county ccuhl bo got oyer. If tho Palmer,sto,n North Board ■ administered tho Otaki f Sanatorium it would, of. course,, charge tbo full cost, of tlie;'maintcnnhco of any patients sent the¥o':-l>y"jh'a Wellington and . other llospital' i "bda)-ds'.. . - Mr. Venn: They will not ■ of taking over the hospital or tho shnatorium. ' '. Tbo Minister: ,1 do not think there is much "chance of"your Retting a soji- • arato district., T'will give tbe'proposi- ■ -tion ciu-efulconsidor'ati'on. ■ ' . Horowhenua Crievances. ; ; ; Mr. Venn.said tlint, the .northern rid- ■ inga wero "anxious -to remain part of the Horowhenua-Couiity. .Tlioy wcro \V within tell iiiilcs .of I'almonslou North. *'v, Tlie.y "wer6"tb'e most 'populousridings " tbo population was increasing. Tho <■ last? iirno ho -had given, tho Minister a

list of their grievances, and the position was becoming moro and moro ae.uto. It was cruel tho position they had been in for many yoars. Palmerston North was their market town, and had a good hospital. Personally, ho did not want to leave the present county. So far as he could see tho only thing to be (lone was to endeavour to pass legislation transferring the northern riiihigs to tlio. Piilinsrstoii isorth (listriet. Tho Minister: You could form a new county. . Jlr. Venn: Small counties arc ol no uso. Tho Minister: The samo argument is used against the establishment of small hospital districts, lho best thing for c you to do is to como to terms with tho j Wellington Board. ? Mr. Venn: Tliov must know that it ; is impossible to transfer the wliolo county, and tho condition imposcu_ by tho Palmerston North Board will not bo acceptable to the Department. | A Conference Suggested. j Th Minister: I think you should en- t dcavour to bring about a conference betvacn tho Wellington and Palmerston North Boards to thrash the matter a out. , . s Mr. Venn: Wo have had conferences ( . with both, and it was lixed in my mind j. that the Wellington Board had agreed. t T'lio Minister: As I have shown, that is not tho case. And if the .Wellington members of Parliament opposed your c Bill you should have very little chance j of having it passed. , Mr. Venn: Do yqu think the Depart-. = ment would object to a now hospital district ? j The Minister: I think so, because, as you say, it would be a small district. ] Mr. Venn: Then if that is so, the . matter is settled.' Tho Minister: There would not be , sufficient rates to meet a new hoard's j requirements. Mr. Venn: Yes, there would be any j amount. There are a borough and a . road- district, and a valuation of about -< £2,000,(100 in the county. , Our real . desire is to bo attached to a district ; where there iscommunitv of interests. It | seems that we must either get tho Pal-, merston North Board to modify its con- j ditions about tho Otaki institution, or ( endeavour to pass a Bill transferring ] tho two northern ridings to Palmerston North. | The Minister: But- you would have to get tho .Wellington Board to agree to , that. Mr. Venn: If a majority of the mem- . Lers of. the -House agreed, surely that would settle tho matter? ,Tho Minister: It is not a matter of , voting, but of getting a free passage for a local Bill. If you can bring the two boards together, perhaps something satisfactory will result. , Mr. Venn: Wo did that at the ,time of tho conference of hospital boards, and we had everything settled for the transfer of the two northern ridings to Palfnerston North and the two southern ones to Wellington, but Dr. Valintine objected, and tho arrangement was upset. '■ Tbo Minister: As I have -shown,-my information is that the Wellington Beard objects to the severance of, a part of the county. I would advise you to endeavour to get the hoards to meet again. Mr. Venn: Tho only thing I can suggest is'that we get some of tho Palmerston people to come down and interview tho Wellington Board. "Mr. Freoman: Thero would be no pood result from such a conference if Palmerston North insists on shutting the Otaki Hospital. The Minister: Do they propose anything in its place? 1/Vhat Palmerston Wants. Mr. Venn: They want to run tho wholo thing in Palmerston North., Mr. Freeman: Tho two southern ridings would object to that. AVe in the southern ridings, sympathise with Mr. Venn, and thoso on behalf of whom ho j? speaking, and 'I'havo cornu with him to show my sympathy. Mr. Venn: Wo could settle the matter by joining the Kairanga County, but wo desire to stick to the county that ■ we.havo been' attached to so long. Tho Minister: Tho only thing to be done is 10 thrash the matter out with the Wellington Board, and if I can assist you I. shall bo glad to do so. 1 havo already seen tho chairman of the hoard, and discussed tho matter fully with him. Mr. Freeman: When the resolution was passed by the board, I voted for it out of sympathy. Mr. Venn: We'must try to-bring the two boards .together.' It is a mystery 'to mo why they, are prepared to let the wholo and not tho half of the county go. t ' The Minister: I suppose they are .willing to .let it 50 011 the condition that' the management of the Otaki Smatorhm is taken out of their hands.