FINANCE FOR HOSPITAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4760, 6 October 1924, Page 2

FINANCE FOR HOSPITAL.

- SLOW PAYMENT OF RATES. REMEDIES DISCUSSED AT THAMES At the meeting of the Thames Hospital Board on Friday last Mr J. W. Danby commented on the serious state of the board’s finances, and on the increasing cost of maintenance and the reduction in the amount of fees collected from patients. He suggested that the chairman.might very well approach the Minister for Health when in Wellington and make an endeavour to obtain authority to increase the board’s bank overdraft by at least another £lOOO. The speaker said that some of the local bodies preferred to pay the seven per cent, interest rather than pay the contributions to the board ap they became due. Local bodies were simply making the board a banking institution. Where the board was allowed an amount of only £lOOO overdraft it was impossible to carry on unless.the contributions from the local bodies were forthcoming. Mr Robinson said that before condemning local bodies the board should remember that they had to collect the contribution from the ratepayers before the amount could be handed on to the board. He assured the board that the local bodies were experiencing considerable difficulty in getting the rates-in, and it was no easy matter to finance a lump sum fcr the board each quarter. He favoured a change in the system, and thought that hospital boards should levy and collect their own rates instead of worrying the local bodies. Mr Miller was not in favour of the suggestion, and said that in any case it w’ould only increase the administration expenses of the board. He failed to see why the board should be expected to finance local bodies. In answer to the chairman the secretary stated that the Hauraki Plains County Council was two quarters in arrear with its contributions. After further discussion it was decided to again write to the Plains Council pointing out the position that the board was in and requesting that a special effort be made to pay at least one quarter’s contribution as sO'.kii as possible.