HOSPITAL DISTRICTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1101, 27 May 1913, Page 4

HOSPITAL DISTRICTS.

SEPARATION OF HOROWHENUA RIDINGS IMPOSSIBLE.

Two of the ridings of the Horowhenua County Council—Tokomaru and Wirokino, in the northern portion of the county—recently expressed a desire to detach themselves from the Wellington Hospital Board district on account of their distance from the city, and attach themselves to the Palmerston North Hospital district. Both the Wellington and Manawatu, District Hospital Boards, by resolution, agreed to the suggestion, and the matter was then referred to the Minister for Hospitals and Charitable Aid.

It was explained by Hr. Valintine, Inspector-General of Hospitals, at the meeting of the Wellington Board yesterday, that such an arrangement could not, under the Act, be made—it was not possible to split a county in the manner suggested. The only way to meet the exigencies of tin? case would be to separate the whole of the Horowhenua County from the Wellington Hospital District, and attach it to the Manawatu Hospital District. One alternative to that was to continue the present understanding between the two boards with respect to the admission of patients from either district. The board decided, in view of the circumstances, to reopen the question for the purpose of ascertaining how its in-terests-—financial and administrative—would be affected by the separation of the Horowhenua County, which includes in its territory the Otaki Hospital and Sanatorium.