The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3609, 5 February 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1883.

The Hospital Board, at its last meeting, took a step in the right direction Avhen it appointed a sub-committee to consider and report on (lie adA-isability of placing the institution iv the hands of trustees. At the present time tho Hospital has no legal proprietary, and, that being the case, there is no one connected ivith it in AA'liom gifts and bequests intended i'or its endoAvmc-nt can be A'cstcd. In tho course of a I'cav Aveeks, avc understand, there Avill be a considerable sum of money in the hands of the trustees in the estate of the late Stokes' Bros. AA-hich has been doA'ised to the hospital, but AA-hich is not likely to be paid over till the institution is put upon a different footing to Avhat it is iioav. The appointment of trustees is of the highest importance iv A-ieAv of legacies aud gifts to the hospital, for these should be invested to make a permanent endoAVinent, and to relic-Ac the institution as far as possible from the uncertainties of voluntary contributions. In Canterbury the feeling appears to be that the hospitals should be endoAved by the Government AA'ith Ci-oaa.i lands, and that the system of subsidies should be continued till the lands return sufficient revenue to do Avithout further assistance. The objection AA-e see to the proposal is that it does not include all hospitals Aviflnn the one endoAvmcnt. Under the Canterbury proposals avc should have one hospital revelling in riches, and another in a state of debt and staiwatioii. AYe should have applied to hospitals a system into AA'hich the State schools have fallen. Judging from the handsome stone and brick structures to be seen all through Canterbury and Otago— the public schools of those provincial districts —it avouM seem that the Education Boards of the South do notknoAvhoAV to get rid of their money. In this and other districts Avithin the North Island the State system of education can barely be carried out for AA'aut of funds. And so, 'in the event of granting independent landed cndoAvmcnts for hospitals woidd it be also AA'ith the charitable institutions of the colony. In some the eu-doAA-ment Avould be of immediate aud of rapidly rising value ; in others it Avould be A-alueless as a source of revenue. AYe haA-e an example of this in the endoAvmeut lands of this borough, which cannot be sold, and AA-hich cannot find a tenant. The borough estate iv the Scveuty-mile Bush Avill in course of years no doubt be of some A'alue, but iv the meantime it is " eating its head off " iv the local rates that have to bo paid upon it. The system avo think is a bad ono which permits CroAvn lands to bo given away for the independent endowment of particular institutions. It shoidd be recognised that the public e.tato belongs to the I

colon}- at large, and cannot be given away for a harbor here, a hospital there, and a high school somewhere else. All public institutions such as schools, hospitals, and harbors, if not self-supporting, should be assisted from a colonial endowment fund arising from colonial endoAAinont estates. For instance, the educational endowments throughout the colony are, we believe, sufficient to maintain the Avhole of the primary schools. But, instead of the revenue being colonialised, so to speak, Otago has its particular endoAA-meut, and Canterbury, has its oaa-11, AA'hile HaAA'ke's Bay, aa-lioso eudo.vmont estates arc at present comparatiA-ely unproductive, is left to struggle against every difficulty as best it can. Unsatisfactory as is the loose and inefficient manner in which the Government is iioav dealing with hospitals, their support is better assured for the present than if dependent,'on separate CroAvn land cndoAvments. While the corn is groAving the horse may starve, is an adage that comes to mind in connection AA-ith the growing A-alue of AA-as te lands. If the hospitals are to be made colonial and not local institutions, a colonial endoAvment, an endowment in common, should be made for their support.