HOSPITAL FINANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 779, 27 September 1929, Page 8

HOSPITAL FINANCE

BOARD’S “PLEASING POSITION’’ ADDRESS BY REV. W. C. WOOD “The financial position of the A land Hospital Board is very pPaU*, said the Rev. W. C. Wood, tive fo S Hauraki on the Ho.nj£ Board, in an address to the Oiah ■* Borough Couucil last evenin'- ir years ago, he said, the board embark* upon a short-dated loan program** It borrowed the sum of £250,00t) - payable in ten years, with the res* that with the exception of £15,000 q, whole of the debt would be wiped or in five years. He was originally 0 f ihl opinion that short-dated loans w too heavy a burden on the taxpayer o' today. The annual cost to the ratepayers was £S,OOO more than on t i e 36i year term, but the taxpayer sav £l > on the balance of 2fi?. years’ interest a sum amounting to £500,000. if a |- the financiers had been able t 0 look ahead as the members of the Hospital Board had done, local bodies would be in a better position than they ar , today.

In dealing with the expenditure in connection with the infectious diseases hospital, the speaker said he was like the ambulance, he came along alter the accident. At the present time it was the bugbear ot the local bodies but it was a matter for experts, and not tor laymen, and in all fairness to the board, it had followed the advice of experts from beginning to end None of the members of the board had a say in the location. In February 1925, the health authorities (."and the Hospital Board is practically under the thumb of the health authorities”) drew attention to the fact that no adequate provision existed for the treatment ot infectious diseases, although Infectious diseases have been treated there foi over 60 years.

The original site for the infectious diseases block, as selected by Dr, Valintine and the health authorities, was on the Domain Drive, but alter strong protests from the board the present site was agreed upon. On account of the straitened financial slate of the board, it played with the question, till in 1926, at a special meeting attended by a number ot doctors, the present site was unanimously approved. The board was not responsible for the selection of the site, and it was quite unfair for The Sun and the “New Zealand Herald” to take up their present attitude. According to the plan ot the proposed block, as far as he, a layman, could judge, the new building would be one of the most complete isolation blocks in this part of the world and will prevent cross-infection. In answer to a question. Mr. Wood said that he favoured the erection ot a three-storeved block, and at the special meeting he would strongly oppose the proposed five-storeyed structure. He further said that he favoured the establishment of a hospital at, say, Manurewa, to cope with cases from Pukekohe to Otahuhu. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Wood was accorded a hearty Tote ot thanks.