HOSPITAL FOR PAEROA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4640, 19 December 1923, Page 2

HOSPITAL FOR PAEROA.

AGREEMENT ARRIVED AT. HISTORY OF THE FUND. J.n ilie year 1895 and onwards, when Paeroa was the centre of a busy mining district, and the mining boom was in full swing, the necessity of a hospital in the district was brought home to the community on many occasions by accidents occurring at the mines. The carrying of injured men from the mines in the up-country. districts over the rougn roads, the long journey to the near-, est hospital at Thames, was not an un- ommon sight in .those days, and on occasions men died on the way, before reaching skilled hospital attention, and the need for an emergency hospital in the district for the reception of such cases was raised many times. The result was that in 1897 a fund was established by public subscription for the purpose of establishing n hospital in Ohinemuri as a separate institution. A -sum of £391 was subscribed, and this, with a donation of £5O from the Campbell, Ehrenfried Company and £ll4 raised by a bazaar in Paeroa organised by the late Mesdames McAndrew and Edwards, making the total up to £555, was vested in trustees for the purpose, as the nucleus of a fund for the establishment of a hospital in Ohinemuri. The original trustees in 1897 were Messrs William Grey Nicholls, John Phillips, junr., Asher Cassrels, Henry Christian Wick, and Tnomas Nepean Edward Kenny. In May, 1905, Mr B. W. Porritt was appointed trustee in place of Mr John Phillis, junr., who had left the district, and w-as elected chairman of the trustees which position he has held up to. the present date. Little by little the fund was added to, but unexpected legal difficulties arose which hampered the trustees and tied their hands. The fund was established when the "Hospital and Charitable Institutions Act, 1895,” was in force, which permitted the erection of "a separate institution” under the management of local trustees, and by’the deed of trust the trustees of the fund were directed to hand over the fund to the trustees of the separate institution when established. That Act was repealed in 1903, the repealing Act making pro-« vision for the establishment of separate institutions and the appointment of trustlees therefor. The 1908 Act was repealed by the "Hospital and Charitable Institutions Act, 1909,” which Act dissolved all separate institutions, with a fe,w exceptions, and made no provision for the incorporation or establishment of such institutions in the future, branch hospitals under existing Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards being provided for in place of them. It thus became an impossibility for the trustees of the fund to carry out the terms of the deed. -

The legal difficulties were pointed out to Hie Worship the Mayor by Mr Pqrritt, and these, and the discussion by. the Thames Hospital Board, were fully reported in the issue of the "Gazette” on March 13, 1922. Since then the trustees have been in frequent communication with the Thames board, and His Worship the Mayor, and a basis for negotiation being arrived at the trustees prepared a scheme for the distribution of the fund and submitted it for the approval of the Attorney-General interms of the "Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts Act.” The approval being given, the scheme was then, submitted to the Supreme Court for an order authorising the trustees to transfer the fund to the Thames Hospital Board for the erection of a hospital in Paeroa. Owing to some difficulty with the board the matter was hung up for a time, and terms were again discussed at a meeting- of the Thames Hospital Board and reported in the “Gazette” of August 10 last. Since then the points of difference have one by one been overcome and settled, with the result that on the 18th inst. the Supreme Court made an order, of which the following is a copy

“That the scheme prepared by the trustees be approved with certain variations so that the scheme approved will be : “1. That all reasonable expenses of preparing the scheme submitted to the Attorney-General and laid before His Honour Thomas Walter Stringer, Esquire, the Judge of the Supreme Court, and of procuring the approval thereof—such expenses to be ascertained by the Registrar of the Supreme Court at Auckland —shall be paid out of the funds of the trust by the trustees.

“2. That the residue of the said fund and all interest thereon and all real and personal property held oy the trustees under the Deed of Trost shall be paid, transferred, and assigned to the Thames Hospital Board and shall be held by the said board upon the ■ trusts following, namely: (a). That the said Board shall erect on the land forming the real property held by the trustees a maternity home containing six beds and a casualty ward containing two beds and the balance of all money and all personal property shall be applied towards the erection and equipment of the said maternity home and casualty ward and towards the maintenance of such maternity home and ward as aforesaid. (b)That if at any time hereafter the said Board shall decide to close and discontinue the said maternity home and casualty ward on the said estate then the said Board shall cause the said real and personal estate forming the trust property to be offered for sa’e to the Paeroa Borough Council at a price to be fixed by valuation of two valuers-appointed by .the Board and by the Council respectively. In the event of the Paeroa Borough Council not exercising its option to purchase within six months the said real and personal estate shall be sold by public auction, on such terms as the Board may in its discretion determine. The Thames Hospital Board shall be entitled' in any case of sale, whether to the Paeroa Bor-, ough Council or otherwise, to receive

out of the proceeds an amount equal to the capital expended by the said Board in erecting and maintaining the buildings and personal property which are the subjects of the said trust. (c) The Thames Hospital Board shall in the event of a sale under Clause (b) hereof forthwith prepare a further scheme under the ‘Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts Act, 1908,” for the disposition of fhe proceeds of the sale less the deduction mentioned in Clause (b) hereof, and shall take all necessary steps to procure the scheme so prepared to be approved and adopted under the provisions of the said Act.” The present trustees of the fund, Messrs E. W. Porritt, Asher Cassrels, R. W. Evans, H. C. Wick,'and W. J. Me Watters, will now be relieved of their trust, and are to be congratulated on the successful result of theic efforts to get the much-needed hospital established after so many years of weary waiting. The active cooperation of Mr P. E. Brenon, as the local representative on the Hospital Board, and of His Worship the Mayor. Mr W. Marshall, has been of material assistance to the trustees in bringing the matter to a successful and final result. As soon as certain necessary preliminaries are carried out to hand over the fund to the Hospital Board the establishment of a maternity hospital and casualty ward in Paeroa should not now be long delayed.