LOCAL HOSPITAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4332, 19 October 1921, Page 2

LOCAL HOSPITAL.

Sir I ,—ln view of the report, of the lasi meeting of the Thames Hospital Board reported in the "Gazette” of 14th inst., it appears as though the time has arrived when the Paeroa Borough Council and Ohineinuri County Council should seriously consider a suggestion made during the last sitting of the Rivers Commission, that the Waihi Hospital district should be extended to include Ohinemuri County and Paeroa Borough. Apparently that is to be the only way in which Paeroa and the surrounding district will get a maternity home and an emergency ward. The Mayor of Waihi informed me that the Waihi Board was favourable to the institution of a branch hospital' at Paeroa. as an increasing number of patients from Paeroa and district are now going to the hospital at Waihi. A suggestion was recently made that the Chamber of Commerce should take steps tp get a certificated maternity nurse to establish a pt ivate maternity home in Paeroa to fill a needed want, but consideration was deferred until a decision had been arrived at in respect to the Nurse Pennell Memorial Fund Committee’s proposals. So far the hospital effort appears to have grown stale, and the proposal for the extension of the Waihi Hospital area might very well now receive the consideration of our two local bodies that find a great part, of the upkeep of the Thames Hospital. The motor service to Ngatea, when established, will enable '.he Plains residents to take ad • vantage of d local institution, and thus will assist them to get the medical services and attention they seek. EL W. PORRITT.

[The main objection to having anything to do .with Waihi is the distressing firiaficial position of the town as disclosed by the Mayor (Mr Donaldson) before the Rivers Commission, and, by reports of Council proceedings published in the press. It Would seem!, however, that a reprehensive attitude in regard to Waihi’.-: financial and economic prospects was taken in order to influence the 'decision 6f the Rivers Commission in regard to the allocation of costs of the Improvement Scheme, and this is having a boomerang effect. Waihi’s chickens are coming home to roost. Tn order to offset the injurious effect of the doleful tale told to the Commissioners, some obviously inspired “boost” about the state and life of the mines was published broadcast, - intimating . that the prospects were brighter than they had been for a Tong time past. This “reviver” came out after the Commissioners’ report had been £ent in to the GovernorGeneral.

But what>f the future, should mining peter out ? The rateable value of Waihi is not as great as that of Paeroa. Might Paeroa then not have another millstone around its neck by having to carry the burdens of debt of a vanished Waihi ? It is difficult, in the midst of all this political lying and subterfuge, to ascertain whether or not Waihi has a reasonably sound?future ahead of it or not,, but if the financial position could be improved, and wi.th it the prospects of getting a branch hospital at Paeroa made riiore sure, then the proposal suggested by our correspondent would certainly receive much support. In regard to Hauraki Plains, the proposed motor service would ensure patients being : landed in a hospital at Paeroa much more expeditiously than in any other town. But this local hospital at Paeroa would be just as serviceable to the Plains residents whether erected Thames or by Waihi hospital authorities.—Ed. “Gazette.”]