HOSPITAL AND C HABITABLE AID BOARD.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2698, 30 November 1882, Page 3

HOSPITAL AND C HABITABLE AID BOARD.

The usual ordinary meeting of the above Board was held yesterday at 4 p.m. Present—Mr H. Thomson (chairman), the Mayor of Christchurch, the Mayor of Sydenham, Dr. Turnbull, Hon. E. C. J. Stevens, Dr. Prins, and Mr Montgomery. The following correspondence was read :

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Wellington, 14th Nov., 1882. Sir, —I have the honor, by direction of the Colonial Secretary, to request that you will bring under the consideration of the Charitable Aid Board the desirability of devising a plan by which funds may be collected from the public for charitable purposes, to supplement the vote which the bounty of Parliament has placed at the disposal of the Government. The sum placed on the estimates for this service was only intended to defray half the expenditure, and it becomes absolutely necessary that the public should contribute a considerable sum. This Mr Dick has no doubt the inhabitants of Christchurch would do as liberally as those of some of the other cities in New Zealand, if the matter were placed before them in its proper light. Mr Dick, when lately in Christchurch, met at your office Messrs Thomson, lok, and Jameson, and from what transpired then he is disposed to think that valuable assistance may be looked for from the Benevolent Institution in this direction.

I have, &e..

(Signed) G. S. Coopee. J. E. March, Esq., &c., &c., Christchurch. Mr Montgomery said that this was a most important .letter, as it asked the people of Christchurch to raise some ■£4ooo by some means. There were almost daily calls made upon the people in the cause of charity, and he thought it very unlikely that they would contribute anything. They must remember that the Board was simply an administrative body, and that they had informed the Government to that effect. The Legislature had not passed any Bill on the subject, and now the Government came down and asked them to furnish the half of the total cost of charitable aid. The Board had no endowments, whilst in other cities they had. He thought it was out of the question to ask the benevolently disposed persons to contribute .£-1000. Besides, he desired to point out that .£70,000 had been put on the main and supplementary estimates. The Board was not appointed for the purpose of raising money, but as an administrative body, and, therefore, he contended that they should not be asked to do this. The Mayor of Sydenham said that last year some £2OOO had been deducted from subsidies in Canterbury, and therefore he contended that the Government did not put the matter fairly. When the abolition of provinces took place, a quarter of a million of money passed into the colonial chest from Canterbury, whilst in Otago they had provided buildings and secured endowments. Now, he thought that Canterbury ought to be placed in the same position as the other cities by erecting suitable buildings and giving them endowments. At present the Government placed them in a very different position to any other part of the colony. Hon. E. C. J. Stevens asked how it was, if appropriation had been taken for only half the cost, they had gone on for twothirds of the year. Could the chairman say how this was ? The Chairman was unable to give any explanation. Dr. Brins said, that while agreeing with Mr Montgomery in the main, he thought - he whole subject should be discussed most thoroughly. For that reason he would move —“ That a sub-committee, consisting of the chairman of the Hospital Board, Hon. E. C. J. Stevens, Dr. Brins, and Mr Hawkes be appointed to confer with the representatives of the City and Borough Councils, and other local bodies interested, and to report fully on the subject.” The whole of the bodies interested could meet and then draw up a report, to be forwarded to the Government. He thought that they had to face the whole question, and the way he proposed was the one to deal with the matter.

The Mayor of Christchurch thought the letter of the Colonial Secretary was unbusinesslike and unconstitutional. Twothirds of the year was gone, and now they were asked to provide .£IOOO. He thought that the Board was only appointed to administer chirritable aid, and not to propose any scheme, which was the duty of the Legislature. The Mayor of Sydenham seconded the motion of Dr. Brins. He was quite sure that this was the proper way to deal with the matter. The committee would be able to report on the subject, and then the Board could submit the result of their labors to the. Government. Of course, as representing a large number of persons, it was their duty to see that there was no poor rats. The Chairman said that so long as the Charitable Aid was connected with the Government, so long would people demand it as their right, and thus increase the amount paid. The ministers also, finding that the money was found by the Government, had shunted their poor on to the Charitable Aid Board. With regard to the letter, he did not think the Government were asking them to do more than they had asked others to do. In nearly every other part of Hew Zealand the people were doing their share of benevolence. It was necessary, he thought, that ■there should be only one benevolent body here, as it was their money w T as lost. They were now supporting nine out ox every ten of their poor, and. the question arose whether they were to simply relieve or to support people, holding out under the

last named condition no incentive to support themselves.

His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch said that bis twelve months’ experience had shown him that those relieved were a class which, under any system, would have to receive relief.

Hon. E. C. J. Stevens said he thought their answer to the letter should be that as they had to consult other local bodice, their decision could not be in time for the financial year. They could not devise any scheme which between now and March would have any appreciable effect. It was certainly no function the Board to devise any scheme of dealing with hospitals and charitable aid, and he would desire to point out also that the Legislature had been unable to agree upon any line of policy, though debated time after time, the diversity of opinion being so great. He would move—“ That the letter of the Colonial Secretary be replied to, stating that the Board would cheerfully do its best to ascertain what can be effected in the direction proposed, but that the Board cannot hold out the slightest expectations that its investigations can lead to any appreciable relief to the burdens of hospitals and charitable aid during the coming financial year.” The Mayor of Sydenham seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Mr Montgomery said that his opinion was that property should pay the cost of charity, and that, in fact, the needy in their community should have a right to claim assistance, which should be rendered.

The motion of Mr. Prins was then put and carried.

The Secretary stated that in the New Zealand “Gazette,” of November 16th, the following appointment was notified, namely, George Wallington Grabham, Esq., M.D., Univ. Lond., Mem. R, Coll. Phys., Mem. R. Coll. Surg. Eng., L.M.R. Coll. Surg., Eng., Lie. See. Apoth., to be inspector of hospitals in. the colony of New Zealand; appointment to date from the 7th November, 1882.

A letter was read from Mr J. P. Oliver, stating that he had submitted samples of New Zealand wines for hospital use to the resident surgeon and house steward, and asking that the Board would give them a trial in the hospital. He further mentioned that the medical gentlemen who had tested the wines spoke very highly of them. It was resolved to refer the letter to the hospital staff. The following letter from the Colonial Secretary’s office, and dated November 21st, was read:—

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Wellington, New Zealand, 21st Nov., ISS2. Sir, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the number and date quoted in the margin, as to the necessity for painting and repairing the Orphanage building, and in reply am directed by the Colonial Secretary to express his regret that the Government have no funds at their disposal for this work- . I have, &c..

G-. S. Coopee. J. E. March, Esq., &c.,«tc., Christchurch. The Secretary stated that an application had been made for the Government Clerk of Works to inspect the buildings and report upon what was necessary to bo done to the buildings. A report was sent in to the Government on the matter.

The matter was referred to the Orphanage committee. The report of the Hospital committee was read as follows : —“ The Hospital committee reported that during the fortnight ending November 25th eighteen patients were admitted into the Hospital and twenty discharged, leaving sixty-nine patients in the institution. No deaths occurred during that period. For the corresponding period last year the number of patients in the Hospital was sixty-seven.

The Chairman stated that at the next meeting they would have to elect their Hospital medical staff and a medical officer to the charitable aid department, and also to receive tenders for supplies for the year. On the motion of the Mayor of Christchurch, it was resolved—" That the usual notices be inserted in the local papers requesting applications for the Hospital staff and for a medical officer to the charitable aid department, for the year ending 31st December, 1883.”

It was also decided that tenders be called for supplies to the hospitals and charitable institutions under the control of the Board for the year ending 31st December, 1883, and that the respective committees be requested to recommend tenders for acceptance at the next meeting. The following report was read: —

Christchurch, November 25th, ISS2. Sir,—l have the honor to report that I inspected the Hospital at Akaroa on Thursday last. The buildings are in very fair order, a few slight repairs to the plaster in the wards is necessary, the corrugated iron roof over the verandah requires painting, as well, as the fence round the building. The total expenditure will not exceed £ls. At present six patients are in the wards, and on the Tuesday previous to my visit a case of typhoid fever was sent from Bigeon Bay. This case could not bo admitted into the wards, the patient was therefore placed in one of the conqiartments of the Immigration Depot, and is being kept entirely isolated. I thought it necessary to make some enquiries respecting this case, and obtained the following information from the medical officer and from the brother of the patient. Wilhelm Ereckson, aged twenty-live, a native of Finland, arrived at Bort Chalmers from London in the ship Taranaki on the 14 th inst. The ship had forty-one passengers, but carried no surgeon. Ereckson states he was ill on arrival; he came to Christchurch on the 17th inst., where his brother met him, and seeing he was ill, he consulted a medical man, who prescribed for him. Ereckson and his brother stayed at one of the hotels in Christchurch till the following Monday, the 20th instant, when they proceeded to Pigeon Bay, where the brother resides ; on arrival there. Dr. Guthrie was consulted, and he at once pronounced the case to he one of typhoid fever, and gave an order for his admission to the Hospital. In the “ Otago Daily Times ” of November 15th, tbo arrival of the ship Taranaki is reported. I give the following extract from the report: —‘ ‘ The clipper ship Taranaki arrived off Otago Heads on the night of November 13th, and was towed into Bort Chalmers on the following morning by the s.s. Blacky, anchoring in Mausford’s Bay at 8.15 a.m. She was met in the lower harbor by the Customs’ officials, and all being reported well, was at once cleared in.” The medical officer at the Hospital, Akaroa, assures me that when he first saw Ereckson on November 21st, he had then been under the influence of fever for at least ten days. My reason for bringing this case before the Board is to show the necessity of a medical officer inspecting all passenger ships on arrival, and this is more especially requisite when foreigners are on board. I find that Mrs Smart, the matron at the Hospital, in addition to the cooking and nursing, lias also very frequently to wash for the patients ; her husband is quite able to do any necessary repairs required to the buildings, and also any painting. In consideration of their performing those duties—which they are willing to do —I heg to recommend that they receive at the rate of £IOO per annum. J. E. Maucix. On the motion of Hon. E. C. .1. Stevens the portion of the letter referring to Erackson’s ease was directed to be forwarded to the Government drawing their attention to the same. It was decided to recommend the Government to increase the salary as suggested. The report of the master of the Orphanage was read, reporting that there were now eighty-five inmates in the institution, two having left for service. The master further intimated that it was customary to give the children a treat at Christmas, and asked the decision of the BoarJ on the matter. Application was also made for a sewing machine, a knitting machine, and two cutting out tables. The report was adopted. A letter was read from Miss H. Kissel, resigning her position as resident governess at the Orphanage, which was accepted, the Board resolving to grant her a certificate as to diligence, zeal, £c., whilst holding the position at the Orphanage, it was also resolved that the salary of the master of the boys’ school be restored to its usual rate.

The report of the Ashburton Homo van brought up and read. The Board then adjourned.