THE HOSPITAL LEVY

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 42, 13 November 1926, Page 26

THE HOSPITAL LEVY

ON LOCAL BODIES

ALLEGED TO BE ON UNFAIR BASIS

That the present system of raising funds for the Wellington Hospital Board by means of a levy on local bodies is in need of modification was the opinion expressed by tlie chairman of the Makara County Council (Mr. E. Windley) at "its meeting yesterday, when be suggested that a Dominion conference of all such bodies should be held, in order that the question of hospital board levies might be discussed in all its aspects.

At the previous meeting of tlie council a discussion on the subject resulted in a motion being passed expressing the desirability of local contributing authorities to the Hospital Board, other than the Wellington City Council, holding a conference in order to discuss the basis of the levy. When this camt up at yesterday’s meeting, Mr. Windley said that it had been brought to his attention by the county clerk that the Wellingon City Council was a contributing authority to the Hospital Board. ‘'Thus the omitting of the City Council was an oversight on our part,” said Mr. Windley. “We have no right to omit them from the conference. They are as much concerned as we are.” Mr. Windley then stated that no action had been taken in regard to the motion which had been passed, and went on to explain the grounds on which it was considered that the levy was on an unfair basis. "Consider the Boards.” “It appears to me,” he said, "and I am speaking from past experience, that we are not going to make much headway in connection with this matter unless we mote on different grounds. Thus 1 do not think that we would liave beeii acting in the right direction had we given effect to this resolution. What we really require is a conference ol contributing authorities, and also representation on .the Hospital Board or boards That just depends on, how far we decide to go. We realise that it is a big question, and I would suggest this —that the hospital boards should be considered. We realise that -not only the Wellington Hospital Board, but boards throughout the Dominion, are doing wonderfully good work in the interests of those requiring treatment at our hospitals. Therefore we are bound to take into consideration their aspect of the question. If these boards are to carry on their werk in the future, finance must play a very important part. I do not think,” he continued, “that any member of a contributing authority would suggest for one moment that we should endeavour to cut the finance of the hospital boards, because he would realise at once that that would bring down the standard of efficiency. That is not desired. We realise that it is impossible for them to do too much in the treatment of the various cases that are obliged to attend our public hospitals. Therefore it is absoluely essential that we should be careful how we proceed. Apart from our local aspect of the question, it is one which affects contributing bodies all over the Dominion, and,l myself would like to see steps taken to bring about a conference between all the representative authorities of the hospital boards throughout the Dominion. I feel that ■we are not going to do any good by confining ourselves to our own problem. The matter must be discussed from a national point of view.” Other Channels of Revenue. “It has been suggested,” said Mr. Windley, “that every means of raising revenue should be considered. That is really the basis of the conference. There may be many other channels where revenue could be raised, and we may be able to.discover these if the matter is thrashed out. Local bodies are contributing approximately 50 per cent, of the maituenance, while the Government finds the other 50 per cent. In some cases it is less, and in some more, but approximately it is on a fifty-fifty basis. In some cases the Government increased the levy in various districts, as it was considered that a sufficient subsidy was not being received. That gave what appeared to be a certain amount of revenue, but unfortunately the hospital boards were misled. The Government soon set about increasing the responsibilities of the boards in various ways by passing on a considerable amount of work that the Health Department had undertaken in the past, and therefore that increased subsidy was eventually of very little value. I say that was entirely wrong.” Mr. Windlev went on to deal with the question of the Consolidated Fund, and the suggestion that the hospital boards should be supported from that source. “I do not think it is any use expecting to get that,” he said. "The Government has its duties, and it has to be careful. The Consolidated Fund is not for that purpose, and to ask that the boards should lie supported from it is onlv a waste of time. I do think that there are other channels where revenue could be obtained, and that would ' relieve to a great extent the present difficulties.” “I referred last meeting,” said Mr. Windley, "to the condition under which property-owners pay fifty per -ent. of the maintenance, and I said it was unjust. When you consider the whole question, you will find that seventy per cent, of the property-owners are working people. The poistion is, then, that working people are required to find about fiftv per cent, of the revenue required for maintenance. You will agree with me when I say that that is unjust. That is another reason why other channels should be found for raising revenue for the maintenance of hospitals.” Makara Unfairly Treated.

Considerable discussion followed Mr. Wiudlcy’s remarks, Councillor R. W. Bothamlev dealing with the matter as it affected the Makara County in particular. “The idea of the original resolution,” he said, “was to try to get a more equitable basis of Supplying the funds, and especially in regard to a little council like Makara. What we want is a table of what is paid by the various councils in regard to their incomes and the population of their counties. I think you would find that on its total income the Makara Council is paying more than any other The valuation basis helps to a considerable extent, but other counties are paying far more than we are. In proportion to our total income, I think you will find we are paying a bigger ■pioportion than we should. Mr. W. L. Beech (county clerk) : We have written before for the information you want, but we could not get it Mr.Windlev: I do not think we will do much good with a local conference. Jt has become a national question, as the position has become the same in other parts of the Dominion. It is no use trying to fight the Hospital Board That tried some years ago, and we had to pay just the same. After some further discussion, it was decided, on the notion of the chairman, to applv for the information desired, including the total incomes of the various bodies contributing to the Wellington Hospital Board, and the amounts of their contributions.