THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1882. THE HOSPITAL BOARD MEMBERSHIP.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2486, 25 March 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1882. THE HOSPITAL BOARD MEMBERSHIP.

While it is of course satisfactory to hear from the Chairman of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board what we are bound to believe is the true story of the appointment of members of the Board in, the old times, it raises to our mind just the same question wo have referred to before. That is the anomalous condition of Boards such as this, and the still more strangely and wonderfully constituted body the Board of Governors of the Canterbury College. Here is just another instance of the vieious results of the principle cf nomination in connection with public bodies elected—or, to put it more properly, selected—by the Government. This irresponsible body deals with public money, and manages a large and important institution, whilst the public itself has not a tittle of control over it. The Government, it is true, exercises, or is supposed to do, soma amount of supervision ovor the Board, but tho fact remains that the money expended does not come out of the general revenue, but is the money of the residents in this particular district earned by tho £ for £ contribution in respect to local rates. That being so, we contend that the seats at that Board, as well as at tho Board of Governors of the Canterbury College, should be in tho gift of tho public. Were this to be so, such a flood of light would be let inVo what is now carefully hid away and concealed from the gaze of the people through the convenience of going into committee that

the general public would at and amazed. Had the Hospital Board been elective wo should have had none of the potty spite and personal bickerings which for years past has made the management of the Christchurch Hospital iu this respoct a bye word and a reproach. It is perhaps ntopian to expect it, but we look forward to the day when both the Board of Governors and the Charitable Aid Board will be elected by the people. The cheerful little family party in the former, who for years have played into each others hands by gradually drawing round them to assist in the little game the friends and relations of each other will then bo broken up, never more, we trust, to return. The chairman, who so dislikes publicity, who is so careful aud cautions lest the public should learn one iota of what is being done with their large educational estate, will, should ho be able successfully to contest an election, have to relinquish with sorrow his role of the cuttle fish, which we are told delights—equally with Mr. Montgomery —in obscure surroundings. Then we should hear no more at the Hospital Board of the squabbles and intrigues between two rival medical •factions for the right to physic and bleed the patients in the Hospital. Any one carrying on such a game as this would socn find himself at the bar of public opinion, and his chance of re-election would be exceedingly small. That the different state of things in regard to some of our public bodies which we have endeavoured briefly to describe does not exist is the fault of the people themselves. Up to the present they have been content with allowing matters to take their course, to let Mr. Montgomery and his friends administer and control a large public estate without the chance of the voice of the people being heard. They have also been content to see the Chairman of the Charitable Aid Board not alone permitting fierce personal squabbles to continue, but actually himself entering the arena as a partisan, and doing his best for the side he espoused. All this has taken place without the people being able to interfere in the slightest. The time has now come when an end should be put to this; when it should be established as an unalterable proposition that the members of all public bodies having control of the estates and finances of the people should be elected by, and be responsible to, them. Government by nominees and through the secret means of committees, so as to burk publicity, might have done very well in bygone days, when, according to the catechism, one was taught to order oneself lowly and reverently before one's betters. But we are thankful to say those kind of notions are now in this free country, and in the nineteenth century, exploded like a great many more. The what may be called divine right of such gentlemen as compose the Board of Governors to rule is by no means admitted, and we even dare venture to assert that were the seats at that Board, as well as the other one under notice, thrown open to election the result would be that quite as good members, if not better, would be found. We have written strongly on this matter, because it is one of vital importance to the public generally. They have just as much right to have a voice in the business of the two close Boards we have referred to as in the Municipal Councils or other forms of local government. Why do these gentlemen, go into committee when matters affecting the public purse are concerned P Such a course at once raises suspicion, and shows a premeditated desire to keep the public as much in the dark as is possible. We trust that the people will ponder over these matters and see if a way cannot be found to break up and disperse these cliques, the existence of which is, to our mind, inimical to the true progress of Canterbury. THE NORMAL SCHOOL SCANDAL. We are not —nor do we believe is the public—at all satisfied with the outcome of the Normal School enquiry. A scandal has arisen about the management of one of the principle of our educational establishments, and after a quasi investigation, conducted by the very person who is responsible for the conduct of the school, the public are curtly told that everything is satisfactory, but not the reasons or the grounds upon which this conclusion has been arrived at. Will Mr. Inglis, in the plenitude of his wisdom, assert that the original complainant in the case is satisfied ? We trow not. Then what does the miserable farce of an investigation mean? Had such a state of things taken place in any other school, the public, through the members of committeee, could have demanded that a full and strict investigation should take placo. But with regard to the Normal School this is not so. It is not under the control of any committee. Hence the Board, through its chairman, can, as it has done, smooth over what might bo a very ngly matter if it came oat into the light of public opinion. But there can be no doubt about this that the investigation, such as it was, did reveal the fact that there was considerable reason for the complaint, and we contend that the parents of children attending the school, and the public generally as interested iu our educational system, have a right to more information on the subject than has been vouchsafed to them by Mr. Inglis. In other words, the public want to know, you know, and we hope that august functionary, the Chairman of the Board, will so far get himself free of the trammels of red tape which encompass him as to make such a statement as will allay the very natural public excitement on the matter.