THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1920 THE "HERALD" AND THE OTAKI HOSPITAL.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 15 September 1920, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1920 THE "HERALD" AND THE OTAKI HOSPITAL.

In another column we. reprint u “leading article, which appealed in the ‘ *Manatvatu * Herald"’ 1 of Saturday last, from which it would appear that the editor of our Foxton contemporary' persists in his antagonism to tne Otaki Hospital, and continues to make mis-statements -calculated to prejudice the public as to the f roe of affairs re this dnstityitiofi- 'The ‘•'Herald *’.starts oil with a mis-state-ment.. Dr. Mason never had a piivat - hospital in Otaki. and had iittie to do with the estaiil'tslifiicnt of the OtaU: Hospital. A meeting of Otaki ladies, -convened by the late Mis Me William, called on the chairman' of the Horw-w-henua County Council to convene a public meeting to conr.idcr the urget.t need of a hospital in Otaki. The meeting was called, the. matter tva< taken, tap enthusiastically, and on re-

presentations being made to them, the Wellington Hospital Board erected the hospital, which was duly opened by His Excellency Lord KaiiXnrly inAugust, ISIHI. We may add that the’ people of Otaki and district contri-r bated a handsome sum towards the initial east of the institution. It was agreed at that time by the Otaki public, the Horowhenua County Council, the Wellington Hospital Board, and the Public Health Department that a hospital was needed, hence its erection. If it was needed twenty-one years ago. surely it is needed to-day, when the dtstrict carries treble the population it did in 1890! Let us remind the “Herald” that the Public Health Department took over the Otaki Hospital in 1917 on account of the war conditions then obtaining. The Palmerston North Hospital Board gave an undertaking with its eyes open—at least the Horowhenua representatives of the Board state their eyes were fully open to the position that they agreed to the Government controlling the hospital for the time being, and that, “at the end of the war, or when the Department so de sired,” it should revert to the control of the Board. It is not the function of the .Department of Public Healtn to control hospitals, and an exception was only made in the ease of the Otaki Hospital owing to the war conditions. Thus it is hardly a fair state' ment to say “the Department got rired of nursing the baby.” The war was over, the Department had no further use for the hospital, and naturally asked the Board to resume control, and in our opinion the Hospital Board should at once have fulfilled its moral obligation and taken over the i hospital at a convenient date. As regards the sting in the “Herald’s” last paragraph, that “if the hospital is to be maintained for the special benefit of the southern putieuts, then the extra administrative charge should be borne by Horowhenua, or the institution closed down,” wo would advise the editor of the Paxton paper to secure the latest figures relating to the cost of hospital administration, which would show that he is making a storm in a teacup. This “extra administrative cost” amounts to a trifle over £2OO per annum —we could quote-figures in proof of this did space permit. What is such a small sum, compared to the enormous benefit derived by the residents of the Horowhenua district? Horowhenua local bodies are among the biggest contributors to the Hospital Board, and. when the new valuation is made.

will undoubtedly be the biggest contributors. so that the Hospital Board has little to complain of. We are sorry to have, had to go to such length

to once again put our contemporary right in this matter, but so many misstatements have been made by a few members of the Hospital Board that it is only right that these should be corrected, so that the public may know the true position of affairs.