The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1916. NATIONALISATION OF HOSPITALS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 May 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1916. NATIONALISATION OF HOSPITALS.

' Nts' ts opacity as the cluot exwiu.ro bjdy amount those charged' with \> pitai control, the Wellington' Hospital lxjaad sets itselt a iiigh ideaj and gives 111 cot thereto with undue disregard c' tiic expense incurred thereby." To o'n way of thinking, it is this attituJe taut causes the perennial state at di ■ satisfaction amongst the local bodlei ou which the heavy financial levies an cast. ihcre has been aa ever-riisin; aspect in and despite recurv a protests lrorn tuo country doiegutas no i cliof comes. This yeair'ts levie, are the highest ever made, and b,; way 01 explanation we are to'ld tha* the provision of an up-to-date biaaol oi hospital work has to be speci.i.ij provided it or, at a cost that runs iuL< several thousands of pounds. As ti the correctness or otherwise of thii provision wo are not prepared to givi an opinion. The best ol surgical ant heaiiug treatmouL is the iinest asset that the body social can have: it is at obvious proposition to any fair-nuudet person that a community in which tin average of good health is above tin ordinary is a community wherein th< capacity for production of wealth wil be abnormal. The cause of complaint however, is not removed in the lighi ol this concession of promisee. l'bt country contributor# to the Wellingtoi Hospital Board ieel that their district aie callcdi upon to pay too Jiigß at amount in cash lor the benefits avail aiblo to them. As a matter of fact ituly hall of tlw country districts tha arc included in the Wellington Hospi tal District are so remote in mileage or so ill-suited in regard to the southward running oi the rajiwaj trains, that the majority of their pa ticnts have to be taken to other aoS' pitals tor treatment, and have to paj the extra maintenance rates charge able on patients from outside districts Those who contend that beoaus® tin Cit/y of Wellington pays its heavy ev ies without open grumbling the outei districts should do the same, overlool : the faot that Wellington City has thi benefit of nearly all ot the oxpendi ture of money: a. solatium that seali the mouths of many business men wlk as ratepayers would become protestan.l in the •rdinary course. The whole system, as at present arranged, is uu fair in ite incidence, amd the need* foj heroic remedy becomes ruore and mon appao-eut as each year goes on. [' is now some ten years since this write! first advocated the adrisableness of "s tniblishing national hospitals, amd ii the intervening years the idea become famlia.r to many. One in stance in proof of this was affords

somie four years ago, when a member of Palmorston Hospital -Board* moved a motion affirming the desirablenese of national hospitals. Tne motion was lost on the voices;—but that ie the first iate of all progresive ideas, ihe time assuredly will come when JN'ew Zealand will nationalise her hospitals; and seeing that this district will have much to gain thereby and little or nothing to i:se, we would like to .ee the matter made a plank in the platform of the Horowhenua County local bodies' representatives on the Wellington Hospital Board. There are many cut-and-dried arguments against f ho establisßment of national hospitals, and in some of them a certain amount of weight lies, hut wo doubt if my properly adlministered system of n;ir tioiial hospitals con id be mom expensive than the present system, or more liable to imposition by those wnose financial position entitles them to pay for treatment and who fail to make such payment. A weightier objection is that put forward by medical specialists : that under a system of free national hospitals there would' be small inducement for professional men to undertake the expensive and trying medioal studies that distinguish the specialist from the general praotition-

or. In tho final event, however, it would lie found that wealthy men would he willing andi anxious to get tlie attention of medioal specialists. And, further, it might eventuate that andi to pay the extra fees commensurate with tho speciaii care and advice R-iVon them. And. further. it might eventuate that profitable work would be available lor special : sts in attending at the State expense many sutterers whose wor«o!!y position does not allow of their consulting a. specialist at present. ;ma who ujjder present conditions have the of finding untimely frraves.