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Hokitika Guardian, 13 April 1927, Page 2

•‘SumkTiiiso must he done '"hen we iiml Maoris driving about in motor cars and living in opulence, hut payin.: no rates under the hospital system," was the opinion expressed hy the ehairntaii ol the eanleivnei- ol hospital boards of the Dominion (Mr W. Wallace) in summing up the tli.seiu.sion on the lemit declaring Unit the cost of hospital treatment and relief obtained by natives should he placed on a Domini n basis. All hough the matter is one that clleels chielly some North Island hoards alone, the confereneo unauiimiu.sly agreed to the remit. Some a-uiunding figures were quoted relative to the east of the treatment and relief of .Maoris and the insigniiieaut amounts received. It was established fully that the hoards in whose districts there is a large .Maori population aie under a heavy handicap. In the Waikato hoard’s district, where one-sixth of the native population of die Dominion resides, though th. Maoris use the hospital extensively they very rarely pay fees and, as native lands are exempt from rating they contribute nothing through that channel. The Kaipnrn hoard’s estimate of fees due by natives is £•)(!() per annum; Bay of Islands, £I2OO (of which £l2l was paid); Mnngonui board, over £1000; the Whattgariia hoard was staled to he in a worse position; Whnngnrei hoard, £9OO (of which £B7 was collected) ; and the Thames hoard £llOO (of which £72 was collected). Figures were not. quoted in respect of the Taranaki, Wairarapa, and other hoards, hut delegates made similar eomplants. The Thames delegate expressed the hope that the executive of the association would “put; a lot of ‘ginger’ behind its representations to the Government on the subject.” A Palmerston North delegate urged the executive to enquire from the Native Department as to the fund front land endowments set apart to provide for the education of, and to meet charges in respect of sickness amongst the Maori people, with the object- of getting some relief from that source.