A CONTINUING PROCESS.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 82, 23 April 1937, Page 4

A CONTINUING PROCESS.

It is difficult to see how adjustments, such as those contemplated under the Mortgagors' and Lessees' Eehabilitiation Act, can be comr pleted satisfactorily while costs continue to advance, says the Waikato Times. Those who have applied for relief confidently expect to make some saving in interest payments, but if nates increase as interest decreases the net result will be little changed. Figures have been quotea in the Waikato to show that higher rates are becoming a serious matter for many people, and the Government will have to examine the position earefully. Last week the Taranaki Hospital Board found it necessary to increase its levy on local bodies by nearly 50 per cent. The reasons given were: Increased occupied beds, higher wages and salarics costs as the result of awards and legislation and dearer contracts. As a result the borough of New Plymouth will have to find £9744 to rneet the levy this year, against £6813 last year, and that must mean a substantial increase in the rates. There would have been a levy on » higher scale in any case for the valuation of the hospital board district is said to have declined by £206,000, and if the increase had been snfficient to bring in the same revenue probably no one would have protested, but the board has had to ask for a largex sum, and the ratepayere must find it. • The same position obtains in the Wellington hosptal district. The City Council wiil have to find an additionjal £8700 this year and a suburban borough, such as Lower Hutt, a further £160Q. The county conncils will also be called on to provide larger sums. And the ex> planation given is practically the same as that advanced at New Plymouth. There has been an increase in the number of patients, but the chief causes have been the lgeislation dealing with hours aud wages and the increased costs of the big quantities of supplies that have to be pqrchased. The proeess is going on all over the Dominion. Palmerston North nad Invercargill report increases. The cost of running these institutons is rising rapidiy, -and the ratepayers have to cany a Jxcavier burden.