PIO PIO MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 579, 25 June 1913, Page 2

PIO PIO MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

A LIVELY MEETING. i DUPLICATE COMMITTEES. OLD MEMBERS REINSTATED. The outcome of the last meeting convened by Mr G. Elliott was what practically amounted to an indignation meeting - called by the former, and in the eyes of a large number, the still genuine committee, at the Pio Pio Hall on Thursday, 19th. Mr G. Wall, chairman of the former committee; in addressing a large gathering, said that the present meeting was convened by him in consequence of Mr Elliott's action in calling a meeting while knowing that he (the former chairman) could not be present. The ob ject of the present meeting, he said, was not s) much to put forth their claims as the genuine committee, but rather to disprove the slurs cast upon him and the other members of his committee. He was sorry that the secretary, Mr G. Elliott, wag not present, but, under the circumstances, delay was fatal, so he must proceed with the meeting. He had obtained legal advice on the standing of his committee, and had been informed that its constitution was perfectly legal, and that they were still responsible for bonds signed and subscriptions received by them, so that unless the so-called new committee refrained from action he should have to take a Supreme Court injunction for his and his committees' protection. His committee, he said, were elected as a provisional committee by the sub scriners to undertake the work of procuring a building eite, the appointment of a doctor, and the canvassing of subscriptions. These preliminaries over, to call a meeting to form, if considered necesssary a new commtitee. Ee and his colleagues were quite ready to stand down, but they were here to day to vindicate their honour. In calling a meeting while cognisant of the, absence of the chairman, and in his subsequent actions, Mr Elliott was, he declared, actuated solely by motives of spite and s«lfglorification. He then torched upon the matter of the building site. He (the chairman) in company with Messrs Body, Livngstone, and Burnell, had visited the proposed site, then owned by the Congregational Church Union, and had reported on the same at a subsequent meeting. In voicing the opinion of four-fifths of the committee, he had stated the total inadequacy of the buildiing as a doctor's residence, and requested that a motion to that effect be put through the minutes. Mr Elliot had, without instructions, and in direct opposition to the wishes of the commitee, corresponded with the Waikato Hospital Board recomrrending the site as a favourable one. As a consequenca of this action, the Waikato Hospital Board proposed, en the sole recommendation of Mr Elliott, to purchase the site on the receipt of a cheque for £2OO from the Pio Pio Medical Association.

The house, he said, was entirely devoid of Cunven'ences, and was net central enough to be suitable as a doctor's residence. The doctor hsd already made requests for alterations and improvements which would necessitate an expenditure of a large sum, which the association could ill afford. He then touched upon the unsatisfactory state of the secretarial work. He wished it to be understood that he was not casting any aspersions on the character of the secretary, but wished to emphasise the unsatisfactory condition of the correspondence. Nc statement of accounts has been tabled since the inauguration of the association, and the requests of the committee for the production of correspondence had never been wholly acceded to, Mr Elliot generally replying that this or that letter was in reply to a private conversation, which he maintained was an unsatisfactory way of conducting secretarial work. The large sum of £l6 had been spent by the secretary in advertising for a doctor. Proceeding further he explained the matter of the cheque returned by the bank. The cheque was on account of the building site ard payable to the Waikato Hospital Board. At a former meeting of the committee, held in Messrs Green and Colebrook's store, the matter of the building site was brought up. He (the chairman) expressed satisfaction at the state of matters in connection with the building site, and wished that they could retract, whereupon Mr Elliott rose to say that through the irregularity in the signing of the cheque it had been returned by the bank, so that they were not yet too late to retract.and he (Mr Elliott) would suggest that the signing of the cheque be deferred until the matter was placed before the Waikato Hospital Board and the error of the cheque explained to them, at the same time telling why the corrected cheque had not been forwarded. Thereupon Mr Body called for all correspondence in connection with the matter, and he (Mr Wall) adjourned the meeting for this purpose, and at the adjourned meeting a deputation was appointed to wait upon the Waikato Hospital Board to explain the whole matter. He (Mr Wall) wished to show the meeting that deferring the passing of the cheque was entirely a suggestion of Mr Elliott's, not, as Mr Elliott asserted, his (Mr Wall's). He had several times requested Mr Elliott to produce the cheque book to sign the cheque, but he (Mr Elliott) had invariably left it at home, until one day Mr Elliott had accosted him in paddock and produced the cheque book He (the chairman) had signed it in a hurry on his knee, and in doing so had inadvertently substituted the word hospital.for medical in the signature, tin bank in consequence returning the cheque. He would now defer ihe sending on of a new cheque until he could ascertain whether other arrangements could be made in connection with the building site. He and his follow-committee-men were quite ready to resign if it were the wish of the subscribers; but he would appeal to their sense of

fair-play to hear both sides of the question and deliver an impartial judgment. In concluding, ha called upon those present to propose a chairman. Asked to explain how it waa that the doctor' 3 telephone line was not connected with all private lines, he said that a complicated scheme had been elaborated which would entail an expense of from £l2 to £2O, which sum, he considered, in view of the association's finances, the committee would not be justified in expending. It was true, he said, that one private line was connected; but he hoped that a new scheme might be formed whereby he could contrive that the private lines would be connected at a lesser expense. After Messrs Lindsay and O'Dwyer had been proposed as chairman and had declined, the subscribers finally elected Mr Buckingham to the chair. Mv Brown was then proposed and accepted as secretary pro. tern. A deal of controversy then ensued over the matter or the rasponsibilities of the two commitees, Mr Wall contending that his committee was responsible, while Mr Power, for the new committee, declared they (the latter) Were entirely responsible for their own actions. Mr O'Dwyer then moved that the meeting called by Mr Wall was not justified and had no legal standing. Mr Body, in reply, stated, that he had entire confidence in Mr Wall and his fellow-committeemen and that Mr O'Dwyer's motion was entirely an effort on his part to suppress Mr Wall and to prevent certain facts being brought to light. The chairman had several times to call Mr O'Dwyer to order. On the motion being put to the meeting it was lost by an overwhelming majority, the meeting deciding '"that Mr Wall was perfectly justified in calilng the meeting. Two whilom supporters of Mr Elliott and the new committee then rose to express their satisfaction of Mr Wall's action, and called upon the other members of the new committee to resign in favour of the old one, which they thought quite competent to carry on the business. Mr O'Dwyer then moved that the meeting be adjourned until such time as the secretary could atttend with all records of previous meetings. The meeting, again by a large majority, decided against the adjournment of the meeting. Another subscriber rose to point out that at the last meeting presided over by Mr O'Dwyer a motion was proposed that the meeting be adjourned pending the return of the former chairman. Mr Wall, but Mr O'Dwyer absolutley refused to put the motion to the meeting. Mr Buckingham, in expressing his satisfaction at their having come to a reasonable issue, hoped all bad feeling would be dropped, and that the settlers would endeavour to work together in harmony. Mr Body reiterated Mr Wall's statement in regard to the telephone, and regarded it as a perfectly reasonable request, and assured the subscribers that he and his fsllow-committeemen would do all in their power to provide communication with the doctur at a reasonable expense. Mr Wall then spoke on behalf of the former and now reinstated committee, thanking all for the patient way in which they had listened to both sides of the question, and said that he knew that they, as fair-minded men, would see that he had acted throughout in the interests of the subscribers. He would suggest that the committee approach the Waikato Hospital Board to be absolved from their connection with the Congregational manse site. A member of whilom new committee then said that he supposed they must consider their committee null and void, whereupon a subscriber arose to say that as the secretary, Mr Elliott, was a member of this committee, he sliould be asked to resign with them. Mr Wall and his committee thereuponleft to hold a committee meeting.

COMMITTEE MEETING. At a meeting of the committee held after the general meeting, arrangements were made for the doctor to take up temporary residence in the township at Mr Hattaway's Temperance Hotel, and the postal authorities are being instructed to make arrangements so that the doctcr will be in telephonic connection with the whole district at all timas. The commitee are going to endeavour to get the Hospital Board to procure a more central site in the township.