GREY HOSPITAL BOARD

Otago Witness, Issue 4032, 23 June 1931, Page 3

GREY HOSPITAL BOARD

REFUSAL TO REDUCE SALARIES RESIGNATION EN MASSE THREATENED. GREYMOUTH, June 18. . The Grey Hospital Board recently decided to effect economies in view of the reduction in the Government subsidy, but not to reduce the staff salaries by 10 per cent. The Health Department, however, refused to sanction the estimates unless the board also reduced v ages and salaries. The board then decided unanimously that it would rather resign than comply with the department’s direction.

At to-night’s meeting a letter from the Minister of Health (Mr A. J. Stallworthy). stated that the Government had decided that the ratepayers should share in the reductions to be made in the board’s expenditure and that the levy on the local authorities should be limited. Therefore, exercising his powers under Section 46 (3) of the Hospitals Act, the Minister required the board, to amend this year’s estimates by reducing those for maintenance by £lOlO and by reducing the levies to £8331. The board, however, in accordance with its previous stand, passed unanimously the following resolution:—“ That as the requisition of the Minister of Health to amend the estimates is solely a mandate that the board reduce salaries and wages the Minister be advised that as the board declines to reduce salaries and wages it is not prepared to amend its estimates, and if the payment of the subsidy, in consequence of such refusal is withheld each board member hereby undertakes to hand to the secretary of the board his or her resignation.” The chairman (Mr J. W. Hannan) pointed olit that the cost per occupied bed, including all salaries and charges, was no higher here than in the hospitals which the Minister quoted as having reduced salaries and also that as the probationers here formed 40 per cent, of the whole hospital staff the rate of pay of the trained staff of the Grey Hospital must be lower on the average than at the other hospitals mentioned. For the department to determine the levy was a usurpation of the functions of the board.

“No one knows just what we have had to suffer at Karamea,” a victim of last year’s floods said a few days ago. "Neither public nor Government appears to be aware of the extent of the damage, and while we are still hoping for relief we have to face the fact that the authorities are more concerned with providing money for the earthquake-smitten areas. Pasture land at Karamea has been wiped out and much serious damage done to' the farms along the river banks. Some of the settlers, including myself, have been trying, to sell their stock, and we have not had one offer. My 40 h?ad of dairy cattle are still there, and I have not much feed for the stock. It is 65 miles to Westport and over 100 to Nelson, and it is impossible to drive the stock over the roads in the hope of selling an odd one or two. Nearby farmers are all stocked up. We are hoping devoutly that the Government will realise our plight.”

The number of district high schools in Otago remains at 10 (states the annual report of the Otago Education Board), the schools of this type being the same ones as last year. Although no new departments have been instituted this year, the number of pupils has again increased considerably. The total roll (462) shows an increase of 99 over last year, and of 140 in two years. This recent influx of post-proficiency pupils into secondary departments is largely due to the broadening of the curriculum to include commercial subjects. Another factor is the more widespread recognition of the value of secondary education.

The uplifting and refining influences of artistic surroundings upon the impressionable child-mind are, of course, incalculable, and it gives us much pleasure to bear witness to the very general care and taste displayed in improving both the internal and the external environment of our schools (state the Otago inspectors in their annual report to the Director of Education). Teachers, parents, school committees, and the Education Board continue to co-operate most cordially in developing playgrounds, in providing playing facilities, and in giving classrooms a stimulating and attractive appearance. The board’s architect and the agricultural instructors have, as usual, given unstintingly of their expert assistance in drawing plans and laying out grounds. Our teachers have thus every sympathy and support in their efforts to brighten and ennoble in this way the young lives committed to their care, and it is often surprising to observe, the change that may consequently be wrought under the leadership of an energetic and tactful teacher.

In the annual report of the Otago Education Board reference is • made to elementary agriculture. The board is satisfied that on both the practical and the theoretical side good work is being done, and that the boys and girls going on the land will take with them useful information. The scope of the work has been gradually developed in reefent years, and the beautification of the school grounds is now recognised as an important part of the programme. Both the inspectors and the agricultural instructors have stressed this aspect, and with the further incentive of liberal subsides teachers and committees have combined in a ready response, with the result that many school grounds are not only a source of pride to the children but a feature of the district, and an attraction to the visitor or the passer-by. The Agricultural Club movement has been reorganised in this district with control in an executive on which both the board and the Department of Agriculture are represented. The board now looks forward to a successful extension of the movement.

a Timaru Herald reporter on Tuesday, Mr T. D. Burnett discussed the need for some organisation to make contact ’ between young fellows desirous of finding jobs on farms and stations, and country employers. In answer to a recent advertisement, Mr Burnett said he had received numerous applications from all over Canterbury and North Otago, two young fellows making special trips from Oamaru for an interview. Without exception they were all splendid types of young men, keen and athletic, and it was a tragedy that so many young fellows, full of enthusiasm, were finding themselves absolutely without prospects and at a loose end. Every employer wherever possible, he added, should make an effort to absorb some of these young men.

The annual report of the Otago Education Board states that at the close of the year there were in operation 249 schools, inclusive of side schools—five fewer than in the previous year. The average roll for the year 1930 was 20,503 —a decrease of 251 compared with the previous year, while the average attendance was 19.048 —a decrease of 150.

The attendance at the secondary departments of te 10 district high schools continues to increase (states the annual report of the Otago Education Board), the average for the year being 411—an increase of 37. Boys and girls are almost equally represented. Mr Justice Pike, who is noted for his strict judicial gravity, disturbed the solemnity of the Divorce Court in Sydney a few days ago. A young woman who had given evidence for a petitioning wife, sprang to her feet when Mr Justice Pike granted a decree nisi. “Oh, thank yoii, your Honor,” she exclaimed, smiling. Then turning to the petitioner, she threw her arms about her and kissed her. “ I think that ought to have been reserved for the judge,” solemnly remarked Mr Justice Pike.

On December 31, 1930, there were in the Otago Education Board’s services 702 teachers, including 99 head teachers, 144 sole teachers, 364 assistants, 13 members of the Training College staff, 27 probationary assistants and 55 probationers. Adult teachers show a decrease of .15 compared with 1929, and there was one more probationer in training. The open-air schools movement in Canterbury was highly praised by Sir Truby King in the course of an address at the annual meeting of the Christchurch Plunket Society on Monday evening. In this provision for the care of the school child, he said, Canterbury had a special claim to distinction. It was a perfect joy to those who wanted the youth of the. community to'have strong, healthy bodies and minds to see the Fendalton and other open-air schools, said Sir Truby King. No one could fail to have some idea of the frightful waste of money in the past 10 years in putting up school buildings far more expensive than the simple open-air shacks. The pretentious buildings were anachronisms. There was a totally wrong idea of the durability of wooden buildings. What was wanted was simplicity in these things. For the next few years it was going to be a virtue to be economical, and it was not going to be a virtue to spend public moneys on expensive and elaborate buildings. People should not let their civic pride run to the erection unnecessarily of costly public buildings. The Wanganui Presbytery on Tuesday expressed disappointment at the failure of the General Assembly to give a definite lead in stipend reduction. The decision come to (says a Press Association telegram from Palmerston North) marked a generous attitude by a committee of laymen towards their ministers, but did not do adequate justice to the willingness bf most ministers to stand shoulder to shoulder with their members in the matter of personal sacrifice. The presbytery decided to establish a central fund by means of which stronger congregations accepting the proffered “ cut ” could assist financially weaker congregations which' were only at present able to pay the minimum stipend or less. Half a century of service without a single accident to its steamers involving loss of life is the proud record of the Devonport Steam Ferry Company, which on Tuesday celebrated its fiftieth birthday. After all these years (says our special correspondent in Auckland) the company is still guided by the man who, in 1881, saw the necessity for an adequate service between the northern and southern shores and set himself out to give the public that service—namely, Mr E. W. Alison, M.L.C.

A correspondent points out that the flow from Lake Hawea has at> no time been gauged by Professor Park, and that the statement made by Mr J. C. Parcell, at the public meeting on Saturday last at Cromwell to discuss the Hawea irrigation scheme, that Professor Park had given the flow from the Hawea River as 80,000 heads is absurdly erroneous. In November, 1907, the united flow from Lakes Wanaka and Hawea, as gauged by the professor and recorded by him in his Alexandra bulletin, amounted to 14,500 heads. Probably less than half of that amount came from Lake Hawea.

The serious position of the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund was referred to by Mr F. A. Garry, a member of the Teachers’ Superannuation Board, at a meeting of Auckland members of the New Zealand Federation of Teachers. It was known, he said, that the state of the fund had been growing worse within recent years, but members of the board refrained from making the position public. At the last meeting, however, an alarming statement was submitted by the secretary. For the first time in the history of the fund the capital had been eaten into to meet commitments. “ The state of the fund is going from bad to worse,” he said. “ If the present position continues, in 15 years, when the peak of the payments is reached, there will be no more capital, and the fund will practically cease to exist.” It was decided to set up a committee to investigate the position of the .fund and report to a later meeting.

Mr F. Lye (Waikato) will move the Address-in-Reply motion in the House of Representatives this session. The seconder will be Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Waitomo).

When the suggestion was made to Mr Walter Nash, M.P., at a meeting at Avonside that capitalism had failed, Mr Nash replied that. the present form of capitalism was' on the decline, but it had not failed. Capitalism, in its present form, had made some great contributions to the world, he said, but the trouble to-day was that it did not make, a fair distribution ‘of profits. What had to be achieved was some form of co-operative system in which all would share.

Mr Alf. Warbrick, chief Government guide at Rotorua, made what may be his last climb of Mount Tarawera on the forty-fifth anniversary of the eruption on June 10, 1886, which brought death to many of his relatives and from which he escaped by a lucky chance. He is almost as well known throughout New Zealand as is Mount Tarawea itself. He has travelled to the summit 1969 times in the years since the eruption, and he calculates he must have led upwards of 10,000 tourists to the mountain. Nearly five years had elapsed since his last ascent ■ of the mountain (says the Rotorua Chronicle), when Mr Warbrick took a party of tourists to the summit of Tarawera on Wednesday, June 10. He stated that that probably would be his last ascent, in an ordinary way, of the mountain, although he said he thought if he could do 31 more trips soon he might be tempted to bring his total up to 2000. He added that the Governor-General had asked him to take him personally to the summit and that he might go. with Lord Bledisloe early in the spring. In the course of the story of the eruption, which he related, Mr Warbrick recalled the fact that he and two companions who were on a hunting trip at the time narrowly escaped with their lives. They were sleeping in an exceptionally strong slab hut on the edge by Lake Tarawera They were buried by ashes and cinders,but escaped by breaking their way through the roof, , ;

At the end of the year 1930 the number of children in Otago conveyed to school or boarded from home was 1093, representing a total cost of £6957, an increase of £439 over the previous year. The Education Board contributed £226 from its general fund. In its annual report, the board states that the annual increase in the cost of conveyance is brought about principally by the steady progress that is being made in the consolidation of schools, and by the establishment of conveyance services in place of building new schools. As an offset against this increase there are considerable savings for teachers’ salaries, committee grants, and buildings, both at the small schools closed and where the establishment of a school has been rendered unnecessary. The board does not think there is much to be gained in the combining of two small schools, and it proposes to direct its efforts to the conveyance of small schools to existing district high schools, or to central schools which could be raised to that status by reason of the influx of conveyed children. The time is not opportune to push consolidation schemes which would mean new buildings or additions, and there is the further reason that the closing of more schools would add to the number of teachers out of work.

An Indian vulture which has been added recently to the collection at the Melbourne Zoological Gardens escaped recently from the nearly wornout aviary in which birds of prey have been housed for more than 50 years. He escaped by flying against the wire-netting, which was so weak from corrosion that he burst through it without difficulty. When seen just after he had regained his freedom, the bird was flying westward at a great pace. The director of the gardens (Mr Wilkie) never expected to see him again, but after an absence of about 60 hours, the bird returned to his place of captivity, only to find that he could not become a captive again because the rent through the wirework which he made in escaping had meantime been closed. The vulture’s return is regarded as a remarkable and an unexpected example of the “ homing ” instinct, seeing that the. time that die had been in captivity had been very brief, and that in his 60 hours’ flight he had probably travelled a great distance. For a day or two following his return the vulture perched contentedly on the roof of his aviary as. if he were looking to the opportunity of being readmitted to the company of the other Indian vultures, which could have escaped when he did, but which perhaps thought that they might go farther and fare worse.

In memory of the four men who' lost their lives on May 1, when the Progress was driven on the rocks at Ohiro Bay, a tablet was unveiled at the Sailors’ Friends’ Society Church, Wellington, by the Mayoress (Mrs T. C. A. Hislop). It bore the inscription, “ Erected by friends in loving memory of those who were drowned from the s.s. Progress in Island Bay on May 1, 1931.” Twenty-five years ago when lawn tennis was a stationary game, and players wore as many clothes as an Arctic explorer, a new type of racket was evolved that soon enjoyed a tremendous vogue. It was flat at the top, and in shape not unlike a pear. Rackets of this type are still occasionally seen hanging in club rooms, or figuring in photographs taken in the era of shoulder of mutton sleeves and sweeping dresses. Mr Norman Brookes is one of the very few players who all through maintained his allegiance to the flat-topped racket. Quite recently (says the Melbourne Age) he had one specially made for himself. The manufacturer turned out half a dozen, and showed them to customers of his, who laughed, but examined them curiously. One or two players tried them out, and the rackets somehow found their way into the Linton Cup contests in Sydney this year. The result was they caught on just as they did 25 years ago, and it is reported that in the last few months 2000 flatrtopped rackets have been sold in Sydney. Players might take the lesson to heart. Let them carefully store away their modern rackets, with their coloured lacquer, suede grip and other fal-lals. A generation hence they may be able to reintroduce the style and make a small fortune out of it.

There are compensations in everything, and even salary reductions are not without some mitigating virtues. For the higher salaried men, the regularly recurring demands of the Income Tax Department constitute an annual financial problem, and the consolation that such men are able to derive from a salary cut is that the income tax account will be diminished. The average wage-earner pays income tax on that portion of his salary (less special exemption) that exceeds £3OO. The man who earns £9OO or over, however, does not enjoy the advantage of the £3OO exemption, but must pay on the full amount. The exemption begins to disappear once the salary exceeds £450, and from this figure to £750 the £3OO exemption disappears at the rate of £1 for every £2 by which the salary is over £450. Over £750 the exemption disappears at the rate of £1 for £l. A salary of £537 may be quoted as an example. The excess over £450 is £B7. The £3OO exemption is therefore reduced by half £B7 (or £43), leaving the exemption £257. The operation is the same throughout the scale until the point is reached where the exemption is wiped out.

The attendance officer (Mr J. E. Ryan) of the Otago Education Board submitted the following report to the meeting of the board yesterday:—“The various illnesses prevailing during the last month have now to some extent abated, and the general attendance has accordingly improved. Unfortunately, however, I find that the present economic distress is affecting the attendance of the infant departments, many young children not having sufficiet warm clothing, boots, etc., to protect them from wintry weather. It is pleasing to report that the teachers of the various schools are doing their best to help the most necessitous cases by providing clothing, etc. On visiting several schools in both North and South Otago, I could see no evidence of distress, the children on the whole being well provided for and their attendance in both districts at present is exceptionally good.”

“It may be doubtful whether a wife* nowadays is under any duty to obey her' husband. At any rate, a husband is very' ill-advised to try to assert his authority' in the way the defendant did. Neverthe--less, the wife has duties still and oughtto stand by her husband in times of stress; and difficulty and not add to his anxieties; and irritations.” These remarks were’ made by Mr W. H. Woodward, 5.M.,. when giving judgment in the case in which' Ruth Jorgensen applied for separation,, maintenance, and guardianship orders; against her husband, Oscar Albert Jorgensen. The complaint was based on the 1 grounds of persistent cruelty, failure to l maintain, and habitual drunkenness; butthe magistrate held that none of the allegations had been proved and refused to> make any of the orders asked for. With what promises to be a very satisfactory result, -an exceptionally rare operation was performed at Austin Hospital, Heidelberg (Victoria) some days’ ago. The patient, an Italian, was ad- , mitted in what appeared to be an incurable condition, and as the only hope' for his recovery seemed to lie in anf immediate operation that'course, though 4 risky, was promptly adopted. The pati- ' ent, however, was in a very enfeebled' state, and while he was under the anaesthetic his heart stopped beating? ' The operating surgeon . quickly cut an opening below the left ribs, and massaged the heart until, after three minutes or so,"' it began to beat again. The operation/ was then completed, and next day it waff reported that the patient was making ? such favourable progress that hope was entertained for his complete recovery. One of the doctors associated with this; interesting case said the heart massage operation was well enough known in modern surgery, but anaesthetics were eo safe nowadays that fortunately it waff very seldom found to be necessary.