PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL.

Southland Times, Issue 1223, 15 March 1870, Page 2

PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL.

The meeting of subscribers to the Provincial Hospital, held last night, for the purpose of receiving the annual report, and for the election of office-bearers, was but poorly attended. After waiting, however, for half-an-hour, a sufficient number had assembled to enable business to be proceeded with. Mr D. Macrorie was voted to the chair, and having read the advertisement convening the meeting, called upon the Hon. Sec, who then read the following EEPORT. The Committee of the Southland Provincial Hospital, in resigning the trust reposed in thera at the last annual meeting, beg to present, to the . subscribers and friends of the Institution a brief" summary of its operations for the year 1889. The Treasurer's report herewith presented shows a deficiency at the end of the financial year of £74 2s 4d, with vouchers in hand representing £400 then due by the Provincial Government. Referring to the correspondence with the ; Colonial Secretary on the subject of payment by the General Government for the treatment of native and half-caste patients, alluded to in the report for 1868, this Committee has the pleasure to state that it has been satisfactorily terminated. The terms conceded by the General Government are the payment of two years' arrear* at the rate of £50 per annum, and the granting of a subsidy of £50 per annum payable by quarterly instalments. Advantage has been taken of the recent considerable diminution of in-door patients to effect repairs and a thorough cleansing and pamting of the Hospital building, and the Committee has now to report it, with the premises generally, as in a condition not to necessitate any material outlay during the coming year. The cases treated in the Hospital for the past year may be thu3 summarised : — Number of in-door patient 5............ .. .. 73 Number of out-door patients „. 77 Of the above numbers four deaths in the institution have to be reported ; the remainder, with the exception of five, remaining at the close ofthe year having been discharged either cured or in various stages of convalescence. The daily average of in«door patients for the year has been six. The greatest number in the Hospital at one time, thirteen. The smallest number., four. This Committee consider that the thanks of the subscribers and public are due to the medical officers of the Institution for their very regular attendance, and for their care and skill, combined with the extreme watchfulness exercised by them in the cases in which important operations have been necessary, and attribute to tbis. under Providence, the successful results which have almost uniformly followed. In the present unsatisfactory position of matters with respect to the Provincial Government subsidy, the Committee feel it necessary specially to remark that the maintenance of the Hospital in a state of efficiency will necessitate earnest and increased action on the part of the general public. The liberality hitherto evinced, the Committee trust, will be stimulated by this reference to its necessity. During the past year forty-two meetings ofthe Committee have been held, of which number Mr Colyer has attended nineteen; Mr Crouch, twenty-eight; Mr Gellatly, thirty-three^ Mr Hare,, thirty.; Mr Lumsden (absent from the colony), seven -; Mr Perkins, forty ; Mr Reese, thirty-fivps Mr Tapper, thirty-two ; Mr Matheson, twenty-nine. : According to "the Treasurer's balancesheet, the income of the institution for the year had amounted to £733 4s 6d, derived from the following sources, viz. — Public subscriptions, £358 4s 6d; Provincial Go vernment subsidy for five months, ended 30th April, 1869, £250 ; General G-overnment subsidy to 30th June, 1869, £100 ; same to 31st December, 1869, six months, at £50 per annum, £25, making the total stated above. The ; expenditure was as follows : — Paid as honorarium, £120 ; salaries, £155 15s ; drugs, £48 2s 9d ; fuel, £56 4s ; groceries, £128 15s ld; meat, £70 6s "3d; bread, £34 lis 7d ; milk, £26 3s 4d,- clothing, bedding, &c, £31 7s ld ; advertising and printing, £18 6s 6d; funerals, £5 lOsbuilding, repairs, &c., £62 10s 6d .; sundries, £33 5s 9d ; refund on behalf of a patient, £3 10s ; total, £807 6s lOd, or £74 2s 4d in excess of the receipts. .. Against this deficiency, however, the. Treasurer holds Provincial Government . vouchers for eight months' subsidy at £50, or .34ooiaa.il. The Treasurer, Mr Crouch, gave some explanations touching certain items in the financial statement, after which the report was unanimously adopted. The meeting was ultimately adjourned for a week, on the motion of Mr Lumsden, in the hope that the public would then manifest their interest in the institution by a larger attendance.