STALEMATE AT HOSPITAL BOARD MEETING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 37, 27 February 1937, Page 6

STALEMATE AT HOSPITAL BOARD MEETING

DR. BERRY RETAINS POST Insufficient Majority to Dispense with His Services MINISTERIAL INQUIRY FAVOURED Dr. J. All&n Berry still remains a member of the honorary medical staff of the Napier Public Hospital. At a special meeting of the Hawke's Bay Hospital Board last night, the majority of votes required to give effect to a motion by the chairman, Mr. C. Lassen, to terminate Dr. JBerry's services was not forthcoming. The voting on the , chairman 's motion was seven to two in favour* but under the board's by-laws a 75 per cent. majority is required. , By one vote Dr. Berry, therefore, retains his position. The chairman intimated that the board could at its next meeting seek a legal opinion as tp the soimdness of his ruling as to. the majority" vote required. During a lengthy discussion he expressed his readiness to have in- - stituted a departmental iriquiry, a course with which Dr. Berry stated himself to be in agreement. A feature of the debate was that only three members .with the' chairman participated, the discussion at intervals being interrupted by inter jections frOm a gallery of about 40 persons, which fully taxed the available accommodation at the boardroom at the Napier Hospital. Certain details were divulged relative to the inquiry recently held by a special committee of the board into an outbreak of disease at the hospital. The discussion at fiiwM became animated, on one occasion Mr. C. O. Morse rising to his feet to caution members against the risk of libellous statements. j

^Phe following members of tbe board wero present: Messrs Lassen, C. Duff, A.- E. Bedford, S.. J. McKee, H. V. Hosdley, J. B. Campbell, B. Harding, Morse, Drs, H. M. .Wilson and J. Allan Benyj As. & preliminary to the business of meeting the acting secretary read tbe notiee eonvening -the • special meet- " CMrmaifs Mojlon. Tbe ehairman, on declaxing the meeting opened, moved ' the following motion: ' "It would b^ to the advantage of the hospital that ihe period of office of Dt, J* Allan Berry as a member of the honoraTy staff be terminated, and that he therefore be forthwith tolieved of office. ' ' "As you all know,,, said the chairwr", "this matter has been, in one •hupe or another, before ' ns for some time, and- natnrally .enough, ithas attracted eonsiderable outside interest. I will give my reasons for moving the xeeolution as concisely and imperaonally as it is possible to do. "Some timo ago there was a partiaolar group of five patients in the hospitaL One of these was attended by Dr. Berry and the other four by another member of the honorary staff. Dr. Berry 's patient died, and an inquiry was held by a special committee of the board set np for 'that purpose. Dr. Berry was asked to attend and, give Svidence before" th'e committee, but he Ignored the request and gave no assistance *of any Mnd. * At th&t inquiry it was proved that he Kad ordered hot baths for his patient, and that on one occasion, under his own personal- snper▼ision, the. patient was immersed in a bath of a temperature of 120 degrees. This treatment went on for a considerable timo and . his patient had, in fact, A hot bath . an. h,our before death. It was found that death was not the result of , the complaint from which the patient was suffering on, admission to fhe hospitaL The parents of the pa-, tient reported the death to the Health Department. "Dr. Berry is fully acquainted with sH ihe material facts and should have given the committee all the information in his possession and assisted it in avery possible way. His coiiduct in the mattejr is not consistent with the dnty which, as an honorary member of -the staff, he owed to this boaTd, and in my opinion we should maTk our sense of it by passing the resolution which I have just moved. Mlnlstsria! inquiry. I "One word more. This matter may go further. Personally, I hope it will, and 5f Dr. Berry desires that there should be a Ministerial inquiry, he may rely on me to do everything that I can towards that end, in the hope that there will be then forthcoming the evidence and essistance which he should have given to the committee of this board." ' "I am in full agreement with your motion and yonr remarks," said Mr J. B. Campbell, in seconding the chairaaan's motion. At this stage the chairman, in quoting the by-law relative to the termination of the services of any member of ihe honorary staff, said that he did not intend to ask Dr. Berry_ to withdraw while the motion was being. discussed. if Dr. Berry had anything to Bay he eonld be heard from his seat. Mr Morse said that he wished to move an 'amendment snggesting^ that the boaTd defer coming to a decision on the matter nntil a departmental inqniTy was carried ont, Teserving the right to ejleak to the amendment after it had been debated. "I have -listened with very great iiterest to the proposals a» set ont by yonrself,,, said Mr Morse. "I know that a committee of this board was set np to investigate a certain communicable disease and its spread in the children 's ward. Being a member of >that committee gave me an inalde knowledge of the whole happening. ^ I gfaa moving my resolution because I disbgreed with the ultimate finding of tbe (sommittee and the boarcL I have ^egwtered my disagreement With it. Twe chairmaas It wa« not the fiidiag boarik ^"fhe-commit-

Mt Morse: Let me proceed. I want to have my say without being .interrupted, if you don't mind. "I voted accordingly with the other two members of the board," continued Mr Morse. "I did this after giving my reasons to the committee. My contention was that there was .quite a lot of mattero that 1 disagjreed over with Dr. Berry, but as a r'epresenfative of the people 1 am here to assist in the administration of the sick, poor and neeay. of this district. We look around and" call for applications for our honorary staff,* both medically and surgically, and we are led to conclusious, the opinions of the people auout us, that certain persons should be seiected for the position; and when h© seiected a sutgeon we got one whu could render us? in our opinion, the best service to be rendered by anyone ra the district. "My contention is that what any lndividual does privately outside .the hospital has nothing to do with me, or with any other member of the board. We have no other reasons to judge an individual than by his actious as a member of the honorary staff,' ' said Mr Morse. "I regret that 1* have to go further than 1 have gone in the pass." At this stage Mr Duff moved that the board's stenographer should take n«tes in verbatim of the discuesion. The chairman agreed to this suggestion4 which was approved by the meeting- . "I regret that our stenographer had not taken notes from the start, but- I hope that the Press'has done so," said Mr Moise. "It hecessarily followsj'" he continued, "that any person who has held the position of chairman of this tcard for eight years should gain an intimate knowledge oi all matters in the institution. During those eight years it has come to my knowledge of mishaps, oi unrests and of squabbles, one lietween the other, but I can say that they have been patched ug and mended,- completely restoring the harmony that should exist right through the institution. This I would like to illustrate by stating that Dr.. Montofiore Harry.. Wilson in this boardroom endeavomed to praise the understanding that 1 had with the medical and honorary staff, saying that I had won the admiiation of those with whom I had come in contact." Mr Duff: Hear. Hear. Mr Morse: You can't say that of the chairman. ' " Mr Duff: He is too modest. A Big Thing Ahead. Mr Morse: Around this table I received a very hue credential from membeds. I offered at that time, Mr Chairman, to gjive you all the co-operation that I could if you cared to avail yourself of it# as you had on© of fche biggest things iu front of you to frame up to. I think you will remember that. The chairman; Yes. I do, and 1 will refer to it later. Mr Morse: Yes: 1 think there is only one occasion on which I have been referred to as making a mistake regarding a by-law. Mr Duff; It is very interestmg to hear these laudatory remarks by Mr Morse, but are they relevant to the matter P The chairman: I think w© ought to give him a iittle latitude to-night. After all, we have heard a lot about "sit down" of late, Mr Morse: That is very moe to hear. I appreciate Mr Lassen giving me this latitude. It is also nice to see that because we have the public here we are not going to be rude to each cther. The chairman: I have uevor teen rude to anyone. "Surely any board member who is anxLous to avoid cmel 'tactics 'and who is anxious to see only the best side of an individual, can see why the people of this district appreciate the good qualities of this man who has done his

best to serve the communlty," weot on Mr Morse. "I don't think that 1 can i-.ore aptly illustrate the ' position . . said Mr Morse; when he was interrupted by the chairman, who cautioned the public present that if he heard any further remarks of applause from them he would move a motion to ha*, e them leave the meeting. Dr.. Berry: You are being a bit of a Mussolini. A voice: *You'll have to get the police to put us out. Another voice: Hear! Heari. The chairman: Then I'll adjourn the the meeting. The Voice: That's all right witb us. Another voice : Yes, hear. hear. , Dr. Berry: You are just provobing trouble, Mr Chairman. The chairman: Carry on, Mr Morse. Mr Morse : I can say quite deiinitely that Dr. Berry is not a gold-digger, and I know that to be perfectly true. liundreds of people haye come to me and told me how Dr. Berry has gone out of his way to assist them, not only in the hospital but right out into the back country. With Dr. Berry there has been no question of petrol, allowance when going out into some backblock place, but I am sorry to say chat suc-h a thing has been raised in this room by others. I suggest; sir, that by pursuing your motion you are committing a very grave error. I say that witkin 24 hours this little hospital ship can be placed on an even keel again, and that is a big statement, if you will only listen to reason. "I am sorry to say that this boaid has • roached the state where it is not caring for, the sick and needy," he went on. "It is forgetting its greatest job of all, which is to mete out British justice to all -and to care for the sick and needy." . Mr Morse then moved ' the amendment detailed above, which was soc-ond-ed by Mr A. E. Bedford, who stated that he did not desire to apeak to it at that juncture. Mr S. J. MeKee : 1 would like to support the amendment, but not in its present. form. -I would be quite nilling to support it as a motion., Mr Morse: I cannot see why Mr MeKee cannot vote for it as an amendment. The chairman: Does- anyone else want to speak to the: amendment? Mr Morse : Come .on, Mac, be hrave. There being no other speakers to the amendment, it was put to the meeting and was lost ou the voices Motion Regretteo. " Mr Duff: I feel that 1 must speak to the motion, aud 1 am .not going to take the same lin© as Mr Morse has taken. I say" that all members must deeply regret the necessity lor this motion. I, do not think tiiat it has ever before been necessary in Hawke's Bay to bring down such a motion in a public body. rrom what has taaeu place of late, we can see that the matter ia of great public interest. JSvei'y person should realise when he accepts a seat oa any public body that he may be' called upon to perform duties that he may not like. I feel that I am expressing the opinion of the members of this board when I say how grieved we feel about it all. I feel that this meeting should have been held in committee, but that would not meet with overybody's approval. I hope that every member will express himself without fear and without heat on this question. I remind members that we are confronted with a serious duty which we haye to perform,' whether we like it or not. it was . not necessary to traverse all the evidence, he added, because board members all had a copy of it, .but he thought it advisaole, and ■ perhaps desirable, that some of the facts should be made known. It would be rcmembered that recently there was an unfortunate outbreak - of a transmittable diseas© in Shrimpton Ward, aud unfortunately a child died. One or more parents . wrote to the board . and then made . representations as a result of which the board decided to hold an inquiry. This was held accordingly. Mr Morse: A polnt of order, Mr Chairman.- At this stage I wish to. caution any member against libei. Mr Duff: Thank you. Mr Duff said that the committee sat for 12 hours and took 85 typevvritten sides of evidence. The committee consisted of the chairman, Mr Morse. and himself. Members would remember that he (Mr Morse) was very reluctant to go on to that committee. Mr Morse: flear, hear. foo much work, Mr Duff: 1 made ; it definitely cltar to members that li I went ou to the committee I would oextainly cntleavour to get at the facts. Dr. Berry: Claptrap. Mr Duff: I want to remind Mr Morse that when the committee considered the report — and 1 hope that the -public take note of it— that we were unanimous in our findings. Mr Morse : After a lot of alcerauons. Mr Duff: We were'unanimous on the ffnalised report. Aft^r we dispersed that night • a matter occurred to1 me which had hot been included.' It is Ko. 3 in the recommendatious. aud it has up beariug on what is before us. * Dr. Berry: What has that got to do with the point of issue? Why raise it? Mr Duff: I wrote it out and l rang you. Mr Chairman. I told you that 1 thought it should go into the report, anci j ou agreed. I rang the seoretary to get Mr Morse' s approval, but he was absent in Taupo. Kow, t' a repoit liad to go to* Wellington, and this recommendation was included. "It is rather surprisingi," ; said Mr Duff, "but Mr Morse, although he approved of the committee's report, when it comes into open bard, wishes to dissociate himself with it. I will leave it at that. \ "The next thing 1 want to refer to is Mr Morse's reference to Dr. lieiiy in eulogistic terms. Well, we navo all appreciated Dr. Berry's services, and I don't think any of us think to tbe cohtrary. Theu Mr Morse also tried to get somo self- praise by saying tliat he was wcdded, shall I say, to ealing for the sick and needy. Well, I am cerlain that everjone of us here ha*.» those same feelings. Our ^duty as members

of the boaru is ai can ea very unpleasant but let us get on. "The f«atc are these: .vo cb.ai.'f n in bhrimpt n Ward caught ths c-cm-plaint; as a matter of fact, there were lour, all about two years of age, with whom we are particularly concerned. One was Dr. Berry's patient and three Dr. Whyte's. The fifth was a baby, dealt with differently. This inquiry disclosed that . portion of Dr. Berry's treatment consisted of a series of hot baths*; Now, I am not a medical man an i I am making no attempt to criticise Dr. Berry's treatment or capabilities as a doctor." Mr Morse: You're telling me. Refrained from Critlcism. Mr Duff: 1 purposely refraiued fi'ora criticism. It was unfortunate that Dr. Berry's patient died. Other doctors' patients olten die. That is unfortunate for the patients. In addition to prescribiiig treatment for his own chiid, exactly the same treatment was given to ' Dr. Whyte's patients viiliout Dr. Whyte's knowledge of it. Mr Morse: I rise to a point of order. Mr Duff is discussing somebody who is not here, and' if he is going to do that I claim the same privilege. Mr Duff: 1 am not saying that Dr. Berry ordered this treatment for Dr. , Whyte's patients. The evidence is tbat the four children who were Dr. Whyte's patients wero bathed one liour a day for' about three weeks. The children were bathed two and two, two being bathed at the same time, in separace baths, but under the supervisiun of ihe same nurse. We were "told tbat Dr. Berry was frequently present during the "bathing. We were told that doctors in general not only prescribe treatment for their patients, but they see that other doctors' patients are not subjected to certain treatment cf which those doctors would be unaware. Tbe result of combined treatment might be quite serious. . "All I want to say,'? said Mr Duff, "is that th© evidence sbows tbat Dr. Berry ordered hot baths for his patients. The ■ same treatment was given to the. other three patients and ho was present ou some of the occasions. I'll just leave it at that. Lest there should .be any misapprehension on the matter, he went on, the treatment uid not cojupxise merely. warm baths, In their evidence the nurses said that the baths were heated up to -a temperature of 120 degrees. . "That ends that.. Kow we come to the next point," continued Mr DuiL "Dr. Berry is not only . a L-iember of this board. but is also a medical ofhcer, and has actually served as medical superintendent. Therefore he knows the. routine and he knows the stiquetto of, the thing. He was one of those who requested that I should werve oii the committee of inquiry; This committee sought -the guidance and assistauce of Dr. Berry and he would not cime lor-

ward with his evidence. It was in tbe interests of the children, tlie parents, and Dr. Berry himself that we wanted him to come along with liis evidence." Mr Duff said that Dr. Berry had ref used to come to the inquiry, although he was asked on several occasions; in fact, the committee had gone out of its way to 'try to fft in with any arrangements he might have. He ref used pointblank to come, and did not give auy reason whatever. The inference that must be drawn from his refusal to come before the committee and give evidence Mr Duff would leave . with members. "I have endeavoured to set out tho facts without heat, and I cannot help but have a feeling of deep regret," said Mr Duff. "We all feel intensely interested in the institution, and we want to prevent any personal feelings or feelings of parochialism. I say that the proper course ior the board to adopt in the meantime is to sever relations with Dr. Berry as one of the honorary surgeons. The inquiry was not sought by the board, but it was requested by a solicitor who represented the parents of one of the children. "I do hope that there will be no such thing as setting- one member of the board against - another, or one locality against another. Our duty is to guard the welfare of the institution, and 1 hope that there will be uo parochial feelings." In beginning his reply to the various remarks made> Dr. Berry said that he ' wanted to make only a few comments. "I am sorry Mr Duff has felt so much pain in seconding this motion,". he said. "Perhaps Dr. Montefiore Wilson would have had more pleasure." Should Be No Bias. In the matter under discussion, he continued, there should be no suggestion of bias. He desired to point out, however, a few serious omissions on the part of Mr Duff. That speaker had mquired (at the committee's inquiry) after five cases, whereas actually there were nine cases. Dr. Berry considered that Mr Duff's omiseion was & grave one. In the evidence given by the sister in charge of the ward it was deiinitely stated that there were nine cases concerned, Mr Duff: If any extract of the evidence is going to be read. then the whole of the evidence must be put in. Mr Morse: I entirely agree, and you, Mr Lassen, gave us your assurance on your word of honour that the whole matter would be freated as confidential. Dr. Berry: I am not proposing to quote the evidence, but I would remind Mr Duff that the sister of the ward in

lier eviaence saia tnat tnere were nine cases aua not ffve. Mr Duff: 1 rise again to a point of uruer. jh uny passuge oi ino repoit is to ue quotou, "uien tne whole report ia to go iu. Tne evidence was given to the committee on the iines as stated oy Mr Morse. The cJiairman: It was decidea at the last meeting that the kndmgs would not be pubiished.' Dr. Berry; All right, 1 will pass on. Mr Duff sai.d that he was not impressad with the evidence of the sister of the ward. Mr Duff said that the temperature of the bath was frequently at 120 degrees, Mr Duff: Not frequently. I menti.oned the temperature up to 116 degrees. Dr, Berry: Mr Duff evidently does not know the temperature of .the hfoti baths he himself goes into. He may be interested to learn that a person often gets into a hot bath from 110 to 112 degrees, -. Mir Duff: I personally pref er cold water baths. Dr. Berry; There are numerous inaccuracies in the findings. Now, Mr Duff has drawn these up and — — Mr Duff: I do wish members would state correct facts. Dr. Berry; Are you accusing me of speaking untruthsf Mr Duff: I am speaking to the chair. Make liim sit down, Mr Chairman. Dr. Berry; Are you speaking to a point of order ? Mr Duff: Yes, I am. The report represents the iindings of the committee aud not of myself. Dr. Berry: I take it that Mr Duff is not dissociating himself from the committee's report? Mr Duff: No. I stand by it. Dr. Berry: Mr Duff has apparently discovered some guiding principle for medical men. One of the things that a doctor looks after is his own patients. What Mr Duff wants to say is that I ordered the treatment for all these children. I want him to stick to correct fact. Mr Duff states that I was asked m&ny times to attend the inquiry. Wa3 I asked any more than Dr. Whyte, who was in charge of the patients? "I crave your indulgence to speak again, Mr Chairman," said Mr Morse. "I am sorry that Mr Duff and I seem to be doing all the talking, but, after all, it is not unusual for members of this board to sit here like dummies, is it? I suppose that ,in the question of the disposal of a member of our honorary staff we shall comply with the by-laws. Will the secretary . please read by-law No 53." TI:3 Board's By-Law Th© by-law referred to by Mr Morse was then read as follows — "Any member of the honorary medical staff may be relieved oi office at any time, if, by a vote taken at a special meeting convened for the purpose of considering such a question, not less than three-fourths of th© mdmbers of the board express their opinion, by baliot or otherwise, tliat it would be te the adv'antage oi the hospital that the period of office of such member of the staff should be determined." In regard to the point raised by Mr Duff, Mr Morse said that he had dissoeiated himself from the findings of the committee. He said that he had gone through the evidence and the finding probably more carefully than any other member of the committee, and by going continually through it he had discovered that his previous conclusions had been a little out. The chairman: You cbanged your mind. Mr Morse : Yes, yes. It is a big man who) can change his mind and admit a mistake. Mr Morse : After going into the report much more closely, I decided to dissociate myself from it. I knew that there was a little more in it than the evidence that was produced. We as a board -are trying to dispense with the services of a worthY honorary member of the staff because he ref used to come and give evidence. Was there a notice sent in writing to Dr Berry to come to the meeting? The chairman; Yes. Here is the letter. This was read by an officer of the board. It contained a request to Dr Berry for him to attend the meeting. Mr Morse : Suppose Dr Berry was called to Wairoa on an urgent case? The chairman: Dr Berry did not give us any answer whatever. Mr Morse: He ignored it? He was discourteous, then? The chairman: He was discourteous. Red-Ho: Mr Morse : That was red-hot. . 1 haven't any evidence that Dr Berry said that he would not come and give evidence. We had other medical people whom we asked to give evidence. One was Dr Gilray, a member of our honorary consulting staff. Did he attend ? The chairman: No. No notice was sent to him. Mr Morse: Jl)o you mean to say, Mr Chairman, that no notice was sent to him? Is that what you tell us? The chairman: les, that is so. Mr. Morse : At this stage ailow me to correct myself on one point: Was there a request for Dr Gilray to attend another committee meeting? The chairman: Yes. Mr Morse; Did he give any reason for not attending? The chairman : He gave a . verbal reply to the effect that he was not coming, but he gave no reasons. Let me point out to you, Mr Morse, that Dr Giilray's position in this matter is dift'ereht from Dr Berry's. Mr Morse ; Oh yes. One is a member of thfe- honoirary medical staff and the other of the honorary consulting staff. But neither gave reasons why — — •. The chairman: Yes, Dr Gilray did. Mr Morse: What did he say? At this stage Mr Lassen conferred with an officer of the Board, who said: "So far as I can remember Dr Gilray saidMr Morse: That's no good. We want to know facts, not , only what you can remember. The board's officer : Well : I don't remember his exact words, but he said he could not attend. Continuing his remarks, Mr Morse expressed the opinion that the evening's discussion had made it plain that an investigation was warranted from someone who knew how to investigate. He had been asked by a man in the 3treet how he had sufficient technical knowledge to put technical questions to the nnrses at the Inquiry. "Well, I've gone olosely into this matter," he added, "and know qnite a lot »bout it, hut T still maintain that all of us were

incompetent to go properly into the matter without a medical man, acquainted with the technique of nursing to guide us. Yve had to put some very. embarassing questions to the nurses, and 1 thank we erred badly by not having a medical man witii us at that inquiry." The Board in Error. Mr Morse said that the board kad erred considerably. Miss Lambie, the Diector of Nursing, who had a direct understanding of nursing matters, should have assisted the committee with the investigation. She would have known what the witnesses were saying and what they were. not saying. If the committee had had an officer of the department on the committee, the board would have been able to come to a definite conclusion. He pleaded to all members to stay their hands so that they could come later to a just conclu-, sion. The board's by-law required three-quarters of the members of the board to express an opinion by word or vote before it could be carried. Without that the board could not carry the matter any further. "I wish that members around the table would express their . opinions, instead of leaving it to Mr Duff and myself," he udded He pointed out that Mr Duff kad made reference to tke temperature of the bath treatment and had expressed his very sincere regret at the action that was now contemplated. "I am sure, " said Mr Morse with a smile, "that Mr Duff is really smcere; so" much so that I do not doubt but that he is now in a bath of porspiration. " (Laughter.) "I have finished. get the steam-roller going." Mr Duff: Mr Chairman, will you please correct the statement that there was no medical man to whom the commitiee's findings were submitted? The chairman: Yes. The findings were submitted to the Director-General of Health in Wellington. Mr Morse: I'm sorry I overlooked that, and I apologise. But my point is that there was no medical man assisting ua in making our investigations. The chairman: I did take the matter up with the department at Wellington, and what they told me I am not divulging. I saw both Miss Lambie and Dr. Shoro. Neither had any statement t.n make. Mr Morse: I appreciate your honouring their confidence. I also appreciate the confidence that members have shown on this question since we started. The chairman: Mr Morse has had one or two digs at me. He has had a lot to say about his own chairmansliip. He said he would co-operate with me in the interests of the hospital. I took the opportunity to avail • myself of this and went down to see him at tho mayoral office. Mr Morse: That was in confidence. The chairman: No. Mr Morse: It would be a breach of confidence. The chairman: No.>^ Dr. Berry: Is it the same kinii of confidence that you had with Miss Lambie and Dr. Shordf The chairman: No. "I want to show how Mr Morse has * helped me," said the chairman. " I took advantage of his offer of assistance to dis.cuss the matter with him. As he made his Offer in public I consider What took place was not in committee. His advice to me vas to go and see if I could get two of the sisters to put in their resignations quietly. Also to go and see Dr. Berry as to whether I could get him out for six months. I say why did Mr Morse want to see Dr. Berry out for six months?" Board "Would Be Damned." On one occasion, added the chairman, when Mr Morse and he were waiting for one of tbe sisters to come in, Mr Morse had made the comment that if the public and a newspaper knew what was going on in the institution it "would be damned from one end of New Zealand to the other." "I have been in the chair only a few months and surely, gentlemon, it was no credit to Mr Morse to leave the institution in that state." Dr. Berry: May I rise to a point of order? Are you two men going to bicker here all night? If so, it is a most unseemly procedure. Continuing, the chairman said that there had been a> disturbing element on the board. He had known it ever since he had become chairman, and he was conceirned with eliminating that dis'turbicg element. "Mr Morse said that I had a big job in front of me, and he was right," continued the chairman. "I realise that one of the things that we had to have was hospital diacipline. It ia evident that Mr Morse from his attitude now does not believe in hospital discipilne. I would like to refer members to recent legislation in which a hospital board now becomes liable for any negligence on Ihe part of the nursing or honorary ataffs. ' ' He added that when a doctor went into a hospital and gave specialrsed treatment, and a death followed, then he should be prepared to assist in any investigation. "It's a serious state of affairs indeed when we have an honorary doctor who says that he will not cdme forward to give evidence when we are engaged upon investigating a matter which is of serious consequence to the hospital administration," he concluded.The Motion Lost. Without further discussion the chairman then put his motion to the meeting, with the following voting result: — For. — The chairman and Messrs Duff, Campbell, Hoadley, McKee, Harding and Dr. Wilson. Against. — Messrs Morse and Bedford. " Dr. Berry signified that his vote was against the motion, but the chairman ruled him out of order in voting. 1 ' The voting is seven for the motion and two against," said the chairman. "I am of the opinion that we have not got the requisite number of votes to carry the motion, For that reason I declare it lost." At tjsis stage Dr. Berry roee to make th6 observation that he was the victim of the board's action, when the chairman interposed and told him that the motion had been declared lost. His remarks were accompanied by a burst of cheering and applause from the gallery, a voice shouting: "It's one for Napier." . •