A HOSPITAL BOARD PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 213, 3 June 1920, Page 5

A HOSPITAL BOARD PROBLEM

IMPOSSIBLE TO RECOVER PEES FKOM NATIVES. Delegates at the Conference of Hospital Boards' representatives wero at their wits end yesterday when they came to the auction of evolving tome scheme by wnictt the Native population in inany districts might bo loreed to pay their share of hospital maintenance. A Nelson delegafo stated that his ooard had written off £800 on account of Maori patients. Oct third of the. board'B tubercular patients were Natives. Some soheuie should be devised to coiiect the cost of the treatment of Maoris who could afford to pay, possibly by way of death dues. There wsto many big ifaorl estates on which a levy might well be made. Dr. Yaliutine: x am sure the conference agrees with yoji. The question is, however, what machinery are you , going to adopt? Mr, J. K. Hornblow (Palmerston North) said that thero were many Maoris who wero a menace to tho health of tho u's-' tricts in which they lived.

A way out of the difficulty was suggested by a, 'i'aumarunui delegate, who urged that all transactions . in Native lands should bear a small percentage of hospital tax.

Mr. Eraser (New Plymouth), in emphasising that many Maori landowner in Taranaki were growing rich at tho expense of their pakeha tenants, urged that there wero several methods ,of collection which might be adopted.., A voice: You can sue them I

Sir James Wilson: Unfortunately, on account of the Natives' ■ curibus tribal customs, you oan 1 never get to the person who is responsible. If anything is ever recovered ivorn the Natives, it must be done collectively. Another dolegate suggested th?t the Natives really ought to say more than Europeans, because many of tljs diseases for whioh they wore treated were'very loathsome.

Ultimately it was decided to recommend that a tax bo imposed on all transfers <>f Native lands and death duties on wealthy estates for tho purposo of reimbursing the .hospital boards. ' ' •