ROYSTON'S FUTURE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 60, 27 March 1937, Page 6

ROYSTON'S FUTURE

Development on Unes oi Community Hospital UNIQUE INSTITUTION "It is news to me that it is th© intention to develop Royston on the lines of a community hospital, and I wish it every suecess," said the Mayor, Mr G. A. Maddison, when it was mentioned at a complimentary giathering on Wednesday to Sister Williams, the retiring matron of Royston Hospital, that it was the intention of the hospital anthorities eventually to make provision for a number of free beds afc Royston. "Royston is a name which has been familiar to the people of Hastings for at least the past 20 years,'' said Mr A. I. Rainbow, chairman of the management committee, when reviewing the history of the hospital. He said that the original hospital was made possible by the generosity of a few public-minded people and, np to the time of the earthquake in 1931, was the only hospital accommodation available to the people of Hastings. "The services of Royston Hospital at the time of the earthquake and thereafter illustrated in a very practical way the importance of such an institution in the town," he said. "After the f earthquake it was found necessary to find a new home for the hospital, and private individuals made very handsome donations towards its re-establish-ment in its pTesent site. "The present Eoyston Hospital is unique in its constitution," he pointed out. "There is certainly no parallel in this country or, so far as we know, in the world. It is a' private .company, the shares in which were all eontributed for by the doctors, but it differs from the ordinary private company in that none of the doctor shareholders takes any profit out of the hospital' as such. . On the contrary, they pay a substantial levy, which is contributed between them on a pro .rata basis for the privilege of practising in the hospital." ... The constitution of the company provided that, when the debt on the property was paid off, then the whole of the hospital property was to be handed over to a board of trustees, he said Provision was to be made for a numbei of free beds in the hospital, as it was felt th'at this was due to the community as some recognition • of the wonderful help the community had given to the hospital in its establishment, : J ■