Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1920. OTAKI COTTAGE HOSPITAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2129, 18 May 1920, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1920. OTAKI COTTAGE HOSPITAL.

WHEN the Horowlienua Counly applicd to be merited into the Palmerston Hospital district the question oi! taking over the Otaki cottage hospital .was discussed at a eon Terence of those iulerested.. The Board al that time did not wish to be saddled with the expense of the institution, and made (hat point clear. However, (he Department took over the hospital and Consumptive Sanatorium, and the District Board was made responsible for urgent district cases treated therein. From \(diat: wo can the Department mow desires to throw the whole responsi! ility for maintenance of the institution on the Palmerston Board, which the latter do not tee! justified in accepting. The. son!hern portion of the recently merged district is np in arms against the suggested elosing of (he institution. The position is (hat the Board did not object to pay for patients treated al the cottage hospital, hut beyond that refused further responsibility. If ihc Board compromised itself in this mallei it could not refuse the setting up of similar institutions at Eeiidiug, Levin and Pox!on, which would only add a harden of unnecessary expense, and mixed administration quite antagonistic to (he ceiural scheme. The Board’s aim is to make the Palmerston Hospital one of the most modern and best equipped institutions in the Dominion for the benefit of suffering Immunity, and surely the Otaki folk are not foolish enough to seek to perpetuate a make-shift institution where it would be impossible to give patients the benetit of the latest scientific treatment, when an hour or two’s easy travel would transfer patients to the hospital. We hope the Otaki agitators will take a wider view of the question.