The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1883. Hospital Accommodation.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 11, 5 July 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1883. Hospital Accommodation.

Fkilding, like a good many other Boroughs of moderate size — few of them, we may congratulate ourse'ves, having' such pent up resources, material guarantees for prosperity, and hopes of future success, as exist in the Manchester Block— is without a Hospital of its own, and Is dependant upon admission by payment into a Hospital 50 miles off. Wanganui. a seaport, and a settlement of comparatively ancient date, has possessed one of these establishments for man} r years past, ever since the Imperial forces bivouaced in what are now its "public reserves and garrisoned the town in what is now its gaol. Until about two years ago, the Wanganui Hospital was not creditable to a place which claim's to be the capital i and natural outlet of the whole coast, nor did it conform, in every respect, to the requirements of decency and common humanity. Tho burding .originally was intended first for a military infirmary, and then (so we have been given to understain.) for a receptacle for sick Maoris, and it does not require much imnginatOM to understand that what was considered good enough. 20 years ago for the soldiers of a line regiment, or the friendly Natives wounded in bat; ln, would no' be relished by Europeans in' the present year of grace. About two years ago,/ therefore, owing mainly to the efforts of the public Press, the control of the Wanganui 'osnital wastiiken out of the hands of the "old identity" element, who, with the aid pf.a few., irresponsible .Jind benevolent ladies, and an occasional visiting parsonj had muddled along in its management (without any serious inikfqrtune can truthfully be aJded), and handed over to; a Hospital Comuutiee, composed ol tb.3 Mayor of Wanganui, permanent Chairman of the Committee, representatives of the local Borough C( uncil, and delegates fiom the Counties and Bormi»hs to •« ud in their patients to the institution and 'contribute to its cost as a quid pro quo. 1 hat this Mo pita! Management Committee, which meets » nly ones a quartet , and at one. qn.\rteil) met t'uS euiuv\\ ,for n cto uh.itr bualucss is tiaa'hdLiud or lut'ci'dud to vl t < t il .!.'.' , ' , . v i . I i k 'ij > ' 0' ii i ■ -"

transact three months before, has been an entire success may ba questioned ; but it is Cf-rt;iin that the YVatigaiuii .Hospital, in. the building itself (which has been enlarged and improved), in its internal arrangements, iv the treatment of the inmates, and the mode of obtair.iij" 1 admission is a groat improvement on the llosjiitul of two years ago. Feilding 1 may be taken as a g-.xxl instance of a "con:ributing body." For every patient, sent down fr >m here to Wanganui we pay 1° 6'd per day for maintenance while in the Institution, ami Aye contribute, also, £25 a yoar towards the cost ofthrt official staff. The health - •riving 1 properties of our district are well-known, .and the almost entire absence of serious sickness amongst, the population- of the Manchester Block is a fact which ought to he more widely known. A sick man in Feilding- seems tp be as rare and casual a ease as the presence of one of the criminal classes. Feilding I) gan to cot. tribute to the Hospital in November, 1881, and up to the end of May the number of cases from tins district admitted for medical treatment did not exceed 2U, and of those there were cases in which the same patient was admitted several times. The total number of patients was 15 only, and their costs, for a period of 19 months, amounted to about ii?i>. In this sum is included 18 months contribution to the official staff, aud a .special grant from the Borough of iveilding ot £15 10s towards the cost of building two additional wards. For this outlay we believe that Feilding has obtained valuable consideration, and that th-i present system of dependance upon the Wanganui Hospital cannot, for tlie present, be greatly improved upon ;t is fair o> the Borough of Wanganui to say that they have at last recognised two important facts. They see that the mere expenditure of money upon the Institution, unless under skilled medical and responsible direction, is of little avail in the case of au old building diverted from its original design ; and they admit, verbally an.l actuary, that however large the sums Wanganui has contributed to the Hospital in the past from Borough endow tuents, the contributing bodies have now a distinct right to a voice in the management. It is true that Wanganui denies the righi of the delegates of the contributing bodies to a formal account of the sums expended on the Hospital before Feildiug or any other local body sent in its patients, but We have reason to know that the expenditure of the reveuuo from Hosuital and other, endowments is open to the fullest investigation by delegates at any time. Feilld;ng is ttot vet in a position to erect a Hospital of its -own, and fortunately would find little us** for one if it po-sessed it, : and, until the necessity for providing : su-"h an institution here is forced upon v*, or until the General Government tak'-'- over tlieentre management and cost of the hospitals and Charitable Aid of the Colouy, we must be content with such a tentative arrangement as we are parties to at Wangauui. There is no reason to suppose that any considerable part of the income from the Hospital Endowments has cv.t been applied to any "other than their primary purpose, and there is some force in the argument that a contributing body. has no.mor riuht to look into that matter than a j lodger in a boarding house has to j know how his landlady became the owner of the establishment he boards iv. But, on the other hand, as th 're .s a disposition on the )>art of the Borough of Wanganui to co-operate with the contributing* borli >s, and to give every information as to the present income and cost o' the Hpspita', the Feilding delegate lias a useful field ot labor open to him. Me can co operate wirh the representatives of other Boroughs aud Counties in iirrin<r th:it the Hospital Management Committee should meet, more thari once a quarter; that at every meeting accounts of the income and expenditure should be laid on the table ; that, the intentions of W anganui with regard to .the -lon}. 1 -talked of erection of a new Hospital should be made clear; that the mode of obtaining admission should \jp easier for a 6ck patient f»om FeiMing or elsewhere; that an effort should be m.ide.to clear the Hospital of patients uho^e mure fitting place is a Refuge for the Aged; and that something should be done to renrtar the interior of the wards more bright and cheerful, and the aspect ot the Hospital _n little les= hie the frowuii g walls of a gaol or workhouse. There .is room for improvement in every oner of the«e *espects, and we have, li'tle dmbt that our worthy Mayor, or whoeys ehe goes down to Wa.iganui'as a delegate ' to the Hospital Committee, will give them his best attention. ' U','.6n the whole, however, the prespnt Hospnal arraugvments for the sick po >r ot the Munches or Block canno\be s iicTto be unsatisfactory^ (', , , l)jin . t . «,« > , y 1 1\ ) , ... « »i ii • •■'

Local & General News. «■ During the last 10 years the number of post offices m Victoria has increased by 5000. We are requested to announce that a football match, Volunteers v. Civilians, will take place on tho Oval on Saturday next at 3 p m. We have to acknowledge the rec-'ipt from the Government Printer of a batch i of Parliamentary papers, and the 3rd volume of Hansard. Ihe English mail will arrive by the 6.30 train this evening. The Post OlHce will be open from 7 to 7.30 p.m. for delivery. In a local last issue it appeared that John William Gordon had been arrested at Patea for passing a valueless cheque. It should havo read John William Gardom. The half-yearly meeting of Kechabites was held in the Templars' Hull on Monday uightlast. The attendance was good, and the newly elected officers for the evening term were duly installed. Mr John Stevens, M.H.H., was a passenger by train on Tuesday, on his way home to his private residence at Bulls. We regret to learn that he is suffering from congestion of the lungs. The latest reports from the sections of Mississippi devastated by a recent cyclone show that 83 persons were killed, and about 300 wounded, many dangerously. The loss of property was uupre- | cedeatcd. The following is an excellent cure for ! all forms of sore throat : Wear a soft silk handkerchief twice round the neck, high up. and nest the skin— especially at j night, when pain is first felt. Not only does the silk cure the soro throat, but it prevents a recurrence of it. This remedy is infallible. The engine of the train from Foxton to Wanganui on Tuesday night met with an accident to its cylinder when- between W'estoe and Greatford, and was brought to a standstill. The affair, was temporarily righted, but six trucks of firewood had to be left behind, and after an hour and a quarter's delay the train started again, reaching Wanganui about an hour late. An investigation respecting the use of tobacco by boys in Boston, U.S., in schools of different grades, has led to the conclusion that the majority of boys of 11 years of age and upwards are smokers Cigarette smoking is greatly oa the increase among schoolgirls. In Feilding it is quite common to see boys under 10 3'ears smoking with all the . gravity of Indians. At the meeting of the Wanganui County Council,; on Tuesday, a- letter was read from Mr Milne, Chairman of the Rangitikei County, suggesting that a joint meeting of settlers of the Wanganui, ; Hangitilcei : and Manawatu Counties should be called, to take joint action in agitating for the adoption of the central railway route. — It was resolved that the Wanganui County cooperate accordingly. The most popular of Chinese historical j noyels, "We Fan Yung, or The Royal I Slave," written 2200 years ago by Kong ! Ming, whose style is thought to have been followed by Victor Hugo, is about to be translated into English, by. the enterprising Wong Ching Foo, editor <of I the Chinese American. The plot i 3 said ' to be interesting,, and, owing to-the diffi- | cultiesqf the original, has' not been much hackneyed by European novelists. . Members of the Manchester Cricket Club will observe .in another column a I notice from the Secretary; calling them [ together for Saturday evening next. We j understand that it is proposed that steps, shall be taken to place the ; Cricket Ground in a more presentable condition, and ■we certainly think that it is time | something /"was done in that : direction. It is' to bo' hoped that members will mu»- --| ter strongly and give the question their most earnest consideration. The finer bone is ground the more rapid is its effect as a fertilizer. This is because it is more, rapidly decomposed than coarse pieces. It is cheaper to U3e finely ground bone at a higher price, because one gets the benefit sooner. One ton of good bonedust contains as much nitrogen as eight and a half tons of fresh stable ; muhure and as much phosphoric acid as 110 Y tons of fresh stable manure, but one ton of manure contains more potash than five tons of bonedust. According to this bonedust and ashes make a complete fertilizer. A new advertisement from Mr J. B. Hamilton appears in another column, and about which readors are assured there is no delusion. The advertiser having bought largely, owing to the glutted state of the market*, and his stock also being larger tiian present requirements demand, has decided to offer the whole lot to the public at exactly the_cost price of landing. A large quantity of goods from his over-stocked Palmerston house has also been transferred to the Feilding branch, and the settlers are urged to attend this genuine sale, and avail "themselves of such a chance of securing good, useful articles of drapery, clothing, &c , as seldom oocurs. The cheap sale will commence on Saturday, next, and should &ecuue^extenai\e patronage.,. .-< - x ,\,\i) [ ii ' ,J*' '* ' •'' .Vi i / I' i< !>" u>