MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. Auckland, Saturday, March 6, 1852.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 617, 13 March 1852, Page 2

MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. Auckland, Saturday, March 6, 1852.

The Council met at three o'clock. Present*. —His Worship the Mayor; Al-

dei men Digtian, O'Neill, and Povvditch ; Councillors Abraham, Hay, and Newman. The Minutes of the ldst Meeting were read and confirmed. Councillor Abrah»m laid on the table the Report of the Charitable Trusts Committee, which WHS ordered to be read. Report of the Charitable Trusts Committee o n the Hospital, the Public Drying Ground Baths and Wash houses, and on the Natioe Hostelry. The Committee are unable to obtain complete information from the Government, in answer to their inquiries respecting the Hospital, but in pursuance of directions from the Council, they now report so far as they are able.

Hospital. This Institution is essentially a District or Provincial Hospital. The Building was erected in year 1847, and the intentions of its founders will be best understood from the Go-vernor-in-Chiefs own words, addressed to Loid Grey, in the month of February of that year. — " In reference to the efforts which have been made to provide medical assistance for the natives, means have been taken for the erection of Hospitals for Europeans and Natives ; one at each of the places named* in the maigin. Three of these hospitals are now in the course of erection, and will in a few months, be in active operation. They will fully provide for medical , wants of the important districts in which they are situated. * * The Hospitals are all to be provided with Baths, and the Patients will receive every medical attention which could be provided for them in the best European establishments. I cannot but anticipate that the establishment of these rni»ed hospitals for Europeans and Natives, under such careful superintendence, will prodvice very beneficial effects -on the native race." Notwithstanding the doubts of some as to the practicablity of the plan of mixing the natives and Europeans in the same wards, it canuot be denied that it has been carried out, as 'certified by the medical officers, with the most perfect and satisfactory results, particularly as regards'the natives. In the Auckland hospital, Jiowaver; -these results have been attained despite the certain great and serious local difficulties which are setforlh in the first report of Dr. Ddvies, the Colonial Surgeon, made on. the Ist January, 1849. He says, — ■" The hos-> piial, a wooden building, .erected -.in the Government Domain, in the.yeai 181,7, occupies,. I think, a bad -position, .as during very il r.y_ weather,. the welrr-whi^h lias been sunk to a groat depth, is quite di y?^n<L\y^ater has to be brought a consideiable distance for hospital uses ; the lefore one of the most useful lequ - • sites n a hospital is, at a certain period of the year, wanting. She distance of the hospital from town ib also, Li my opinion, very much against its -utility, as in sevci,al eases of fractured limbs, the patients .have declared that they suffered gteat torture in -being conveyed to so great a distance from the .town The building itself, also, is in many lespects defective and ill adapted for the reception and tieatinent of persons labouring under diseases. The wind and rain find access into, the different wards, and I have. found this in many cases an almost insuperable barrier to the recovery of persons aißicled with lung diseases, &c. * * At a Very inconvenient distance from the house is a double water-closet and dead-house ; we have no b.ith-house, either for hot, cold, «r .vapour Laths, and the only m ans we have of making use of the wsrm bath to promote cleanliness and assist in removing, disease is by employing a bathing tub of inconvenient size, in tthe wards of the hospital, the patients having to undress before others in the same ward. I find this extr< mely inconvenient with lespect to the aboriginal patients, and I i would therefore recommend for the consider- j ation of his Excellency, the propriety of eiecting a.house to be used as a bath-house." The Commit 1 cc hay« reason to believe that these difficulties still exist, and that o her objections, equally if not more serious, have been from time to time brought under the notice of the authorities in the subsequent reports of the Colonial Surgeon, — cqpies ot which have been requested but have not yet been furnished. The Committee have to report a great falling off in the number of patients dvi ing the past year as contrasted with >the year 184-8, the \ first year of its opening :—- 1848. 1851. In door patients 276 . . 210 Out door " 383 .. 183 incld. Gaol. Total ..664 .. 393 This falling off appears to have occured principally in the number of native patients, and may perhaps be accounted for by the stoppage of the public works. In 1848, there were 534 aborigines, of whom 158 were in-door patients, whereas during the past year they only amounted to 74, and these were admitted fiom all paits of the Northern Province, even as far south as Ne'son and also from Taranaki, where there is another hospital, as is shewn by the following return :— Name of District No. of Patients. Waikato 23 Rotorua 13 Bay of Islands . . . . „ 7 Manakau • • . . „ 3 Waiheki .. ..^ .. .. 3 Tauranga 3 East Cape 2 Taranaki 1 Nelson .. .. .. .. 1 Wangarie . . . . • • 1 Mata Mata 1 Taupu 1 Okahau . . . . . . . . 1 Wakatani • , . . . . 1 Kawhia •• 1 ' Auckland 12 Total .. .. 74 It appears by another return that the amount expended on the hospital during the year 1851, including the expenses of printing, stationery, and firewood, but excluding the expanses of repairs and alterations of the building, and the salary of the Colonial Surgeon, is £870 14s. The cost of these repairs, &c, has not been furnished, and the Committee understand that painthig work is also required to be immediately done to the building, at an estimated cost of £120. 'I he salary of the Colo- I nial Surgeon appears to be £150 per annum, his duties including attendance upon out-door patients and the gaol hospital. '1 his salary is provided for out of the genetal revenue.

The portion of the Government Do-nain on which the hospital stands, consisting of 1 2 acres, appears to have been fenced off, on the election of the building, and by a deed of t*tant dated so recently as the 28lh of October, 1850, nearly three ye;irs after the opening, — after reciting that the piec of land in quesiion had been tnaiked out and distinguished on the charts of the New Zealand Islands as hospital reserved lands, as the site of, and as an endowment for, or towards the maintenance and support of a hospital erected thereon, for the relief of the sick of all classes of her Majesty's subjects. Her Majesty did grant the said 1 "a. Or. Op. unio the Attorney -General, the Colonial Secretary and the Colonial Treasurer for -the time being, of the Province of New Ulster, in trust as an endowment for such hospital, as thereinbefore mentioned, with power to lease for any term not exceeding 21 years. It appears by another return made to the Town Council, that various other allotments of Town, Suburban and Country lands amounting altogether to about '300 acres, have been granted to the same Trustees as an endowment for the hospital, by deeds of grant dated respectively, the 24th August, 1850, and the 24th Apnl, 1851, and that she of these allotments are already let to respectable tenants (5 for 21 years, and 1 for 10 years), producing an annual income of £91 10s. The rest of the allotments with two or three exceptions, of which the Committee cannot obtain particulars, are at present totally unproductive, and the Committee fear that in the present state of affairs in Auckland, they are likely to continue so for some time to come. With the exception then of this smalt rental, the whole charge of the hospital is at present provided for out of the general revenue, and accordingly, the sum of £890 9s. was voted for this purpose for the year 1852, by the Legislative Council ; and his Excellency the Governor- in-Chief in his despatch accompanying the Charter, states that he "cannot but hope that the Provincial Council when it assembles, will, upon account of the important duties devolved upon the Corporation [if it undertakes them, be' it observed,] continue to provide from the revenue such sums as may be really requisite to enable the Corporation efficiently to support this r and oiher works and institutions;" proposed to be handed over to them. - , Apart from the probable increase of patients in the hospital, the annual charge for. maintaining the same is likely to be considerably increased, inasmuch as it has been recently proposed To erect a Lunatic Asylum on part of the Hospital enclosuie,' (t«he 12 acie allotment,) with the avowed object of enabling the institution to's'liare'in the hospit 1 endowments. The Committee >have had before them the separate ireport of the Samtorv Committee on tins subjfc,, recently laid 'before the Council, and they b?g ,to stale th.it they quite agree with, that Committee, in Uievr objections to the selection of -the &ite, bo far , as the permanent erection of the Asylum thei^on is concerned ; but with reference to the h< s.pital and its, endowments, if the project is persisted in, the further question exists, which it is supposed may be safety left to the.d c sion of the At-torney-Geneial, one of the Tiustees, viz. : whether the proposed .ocation o! the Asylum and contemplated ,prov sum for its suppottdoes or not, involve a breach of the hospital trusts. The Committee must I e:e remind the Council that tie intended Lunatic Asylum is one ■6i the institutions proposed to be handed over to the management of the Corporation, and they regiet to be obliged to add, that notwithstanding their efforts, no information has been obtained respecting the preliminary arrangements between the Government and the Committee of Subscribers, the estimated cost of the building, and its management, or as to the ultimate determination of the Government respecting the site. So long as these questions are not satisfactorily settled, and whilst the revenues of the hospital are so tofally inadequate to its own support, and its very existence really depends upon the vote of the Provincial Legis'alure, the Committee consider that the Town Council ought not to be required to decide whether they will undertake the management of this impoitant institution. All Trusts should be specific and well defined, and no peison least of all a Corporation, should undeitake a trust undefined or uncertain, whether in point of objects, purposes, or amount of endowment, — especially where the trust is of a charitable nature, and the desire must be to extend rather than limit the extent of its legitimate operations. The Provincial character . of the institution, and its great importance as regards its beneficial effects on the native race, appear to demand that the responsibility of the management should be continued with those, who, for some time to come at least, can command the large amount of funds necessary for its due maintenance and support. The interests of the charity, in truth, require that the Corporation should forego the trust, however gratifying and honourable its acceptance would be, and the Committee beg to remind the Council that few Corporations, even of ancient date, can boast the privilege of having so important a charge under their Government. The two hospitals of St. Bartholomew, West Snrthfield, and St. Thomas, Southwark, are certainly vested in the Mayor, Commonalty and Citizens of London, but readers of history know that although ir't. Bartholomew's was refounded by lleniy VIII., in 1546, at the time it was first accepted by the City, it had been founded long before, -via , in Henry the I. reign, by Ray here, the king's minstrel ; and that Henry VIII. , on Us re -foundation, endowed it with the annual sum of 500 marks, on condition that the City should pay an equal sura, which they were then well able to, do, — the twelve City companies, to quote only one instance, having in the previous year lent the king £21,000 upon a mortgage of Crown Lands towards the charges of his war in HcoU land. It was not also until Edward the Vl's. reign, that the City of London having purchased of the king the manor of Southwark, became possessed of the hospital of St. Thomas, and were constituted by Charter the Governors thereof ; the hospital was at that time rich in lands and other endowments, having been endowed so early as the year 1215, when held of the Abbot of Barmondsey, with land to the value of £343 a year. Under all the circumstances, the Committee consider that when the Corporation of Auckland are assured of the existence of funds wherewith to discharge the ordinary duties of their own existence, it will be time enough to think of undertaking the extraordinary aud

iesponsibl<* trust which the acceptance of the Auckland hospital will entail upon them.

The Drying Grounds, Baths, and Washing House. This reserve consists of 1 acre 1 rood 20 perches, situate near the mill leet in Mechanic's Bay. A valuable stream of water flows through it from the Domain, and is conducted through brick channels into several circular reservoirs for the accommodation of the washerwomen who resort there. A wooden shed in good repair has also been erected on the ground, for the use of the same parties. The reserve was granted on the 18th October, 1850, to the above named official upon trust, to te " used as Drying Grounds, and as reserved lands for the purpose of constructing baths and washing houses for the use of the inhabitants of the town of Auckland." The supply of water is amply sufficient for all these purposes, and it will no doubt eventually prove a very valuable and important provision for the increasing population of the city.

The Native Hostelry. This reserve,Jconsisting of 6 acres, 1 rood, 0 perches, is vested in official trustees, by deed of grant dated the 9th of May, 1851, for the maintenance and repair of the Hostelry erected thereon, as a Lodging House and Store, or Market place where her Majesty's native subjects and other poor persons visiting Auckland, may temporarily reside free of charge, with their gcods and wares, and there dispose of such produce as they may bring from the country for sale. This Institution is one of considerable and increasing importance. If the Town Market is ever to be made a source of revenue, and the Council are to attempt to raise market tolls and dues, one step must be the supression of native hawkers, and to this end the regulation of this Hostelry should be certainly under their control. It appears that two other sections, one in Auckland consisting of 2 acres, 0 rood, 14 perches, and the other in Onehunga, consisting of 2 acres, 0 rood, 9 perches, have been also set apart for the construction and maintenance of similar institutions. The Committee beg to lay upon the table the following Returns from the Government on the above matters : — 1. Abstract of grant to trustees for Native Hoslelry. 2. Abstract of grant to trustees for Lodging Houses. 3. Abstract of grant to trustees for Drying Grounds, Baths, and Wash Hous s. 4. Abstract of grants to trustees for Hospital. 5. Abstract of grants to trustees for Hospital reserves. _^--~ -"" 6. Dates of the several Crown Grants. _,---7. Four returns as to the number of patients admitted into the Hospital. 8. Expenditure on Hospital during 1851. 9. Return of number of natives admitted into Hospital. And three letters from the Colonial S- cretary in reply to the Town Clerk's communicatijns. Alderman Powditch moved that the Council do meet in Committee on next, at the hour of twelve o'clock, to consider the Reports that had been adopted from the several Committees on Public Works, Town and Suburban Roads, and Rural Roads. The motion was seconded by Aldermin O'Neill, and carried. Alderman O'Neill's motion for having the eignatures of the Mayor and Town Clerk affixed to the memorial to the Governor-in-Chief for the erection of a new Government House at Auckland, fell to the ground through some previous informality — the memorial no having been yet adopted. Councillor Newman had not been able to .procure information necessary to the filling up of the blanks in the petition on the subject of the expense of locating the pensioners, and expressed his desire to postpone moving the adoption of the petition for the present. Councillor Abraham gave notice that he would move, at the next sitting, the adoption of the Report from the Committee on Charitable Trusts. Alderman O'Neill gave notice that, at the next sitting, he would move the adoption of the memorial on the subject of a new Government House. The Town Clerk was instructed to communicate to the Government the appointment of Mr. OBrien to the office of Town Treasurer. The Council adjourned.

From the following announcement, copied from the Free Church Missionary Record, It will be seen that a successor to Mr. Panton in the pastorate of the Presbyterian Ohurch in Auckland has been appointed : — " New Zealand. — We have great pleasure in announcing the appointment of Mr. Findlay, of Weat Kilbride, to the cangregation at Auckland, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Pan ton. We fondly trust that the settlement of this able, respected, and experienced minister in so important a statioa as the capital of this rising Colony, will be fraught with abundant blessing tos our numerous countrymen, and to the whole population in that distant land. The Church proves her appreciation of the importance of such etatisns, when ehe Ib willing to allow, as in this instance, ministers of standing and influence to leave positions of extensive usefulness and of undoubted comfort, and to part with them for the sake of her expatriated people."