NIGHTCAPS GRIEVANCE.

Southland Times, Issue 21098, 2 June 1930, Page 3

NIGHTCAPS GRIEVANCE.

To the Editor.

Sir, Considerable misunderstanding seems to have arisen over the erection and running of a maternity hospital to serve the Nightcaps district. The population of this area is about 2900 and we have no private or public nursing home. After we had evolved a scheme and collected the necessary money the board decided to build at Riverton a maternity ward. This was built, equipped and is being maintained at public cost, Riverton by the way has two private maternity homes. We raised locally the sum of £825 and towards the end of May, 1928, we forwarded the sum of £5OO and signified our intention of agreeing to the requirements of the letter forwarded by the secretary of the board on May 19, 1928. Things trailed on till January 16, 1930, when we were asked and forwarded a further £325 on the understanding that work would be started within a month. The next communication came to us on February 4 as a bombshell. A form of agreement was drawn up by the board among other things making every member of the management committee jointly and severally responsible for any loss that should occur. Naturally the committee refused to sign and never a nail has yet been driven. Not only so for although the board has been holding £5OO of our money for over two years they have not even cleared the mortgage off the property and the interest is mounting up. The action of the board is hard to understand for is it not a fact that the Wallace Board in conjunction with the Southland Hospital Board contributes annually to the maternity hospital in Lumsden? Throughout the board seenis to have made a point of keeping Nightcaps back and we suggest that it should be called the Riverton Hospital Board as it seems to be a great deal more concerned about Riverton than the rest of Wallace and Fiord.—l am, etc., '

J. O. CLAPP, Junr. Hon. Secretary, Nightcaps Maternity Hospital Committee.