HOMES FOR INDIGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 777, 25 September 1929, Page 6

HOMES FOR INDIGENT

PRIME MINISTER KEEPS HIS PROMISE RELIEVING MENTAL HOSPITALS (THE SUX’3 Parliamentary Reporter) PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Tues. In accordance with a promise made in the Auckland Town Hall in June last, the Prime Minister has introduced legislation to provide for the indigent aged, in the form of homes for destitute persons. The Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives this afternoon by GovernorGeneral’s Message. Hospital boards are not relieved of aiiy obligations by the Bill. Provision is made in it for the establishment and maintenance of rest homes for destitute persons who, by reason of ' age and infirmity, cannot take proper care of themselves. One section provides for the acquisition of areas by the State for the purpose, but the Minister may declare privately organised institutions to be rest homes for the purposes of the Act. Both State and private homes will be subject to inspection by official visitors, and charitable institutions maintained by hospital boards may be declared rest homes. The necessary reception order, on receipt of an application, may be made by a stipendiary magistrate, who must be satisfied of the necessity for the patient to enter the home by reason of being aged or infirm, or having no responsible person to take care of him. The applicant shall not be detained in the home for a longer period than desired in the application. These voluntary applications may be made to a superintendent of any rest home and the superintendent may transmit the application to a magistrate. It is also intended to make provision for the committal of a person to a rest home on the application of any reputable person. If the j magistrate is satisfied with the facts I of the case he may commit a person I to the home for as long as he deems ! fit. All applications will be heard in camera. Vagrants and similar persons charged in courts may be committed to rest homes by an order of the court and any person detained in a mental hospital because of mental infirmity arising out of age may be transferred to the rest home. Inmates escaping from rest homes may be returned to the institutions without a warrant and the Minister may discharge or transfer inmates. In the case of voluntary inmates this may be done only with their consent in writing. Voluntary inmates may be dis- , charged before their term of detention is up, provided that there is . some responsible person to look after them, but other inmates cannot be discharged except by consent of the Minister. The penalty for ill-treating or neglecting or assisting in the escape of an inmate of the home is £2O. Maintenance of the inmate may be made a charge on a near relative or the inmate’s estate. When the Bill was introduced, the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, was informed by Sir Joseph Ward that the Bill followed an announcement made in Auckland and that it would relieve the strain on mental hospitals. To Mr. W. J. Jordan (Manukau) he said that pensions rights, in connection with the inmates, would be considered on their merits. To Mr. J. A. Young (Hamilton) he said that the homes would be controlled by a special commission to be set up.