THE HOSPITAL TROUBLE

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1916, Page 3

THE HOSPITAL TROUBLE

To the Editor. Sir,—Your able and very timely leadj iny article in this morning, 1 trust, will I open the ( yes of the Hospital Board and enable them to sco the sorry figure tliey cut ut their last meeting. While it is true there are twe or three level-headed and able men on the Board, it is also true the majority are quite unfitted to hold so important a position. So long as the Board was guided, and practically under the control of the late secretary, things ran smoothly, for the matron cou'd consult iiin; without fear of being misunderstood. But as soon as the control of the institute was left to men who cannot devote their whole time to the work, men who have really no qualifications in that direction,' the management fell heavily upon the shoulders of the matron, and now, forsooth, because she mildly requests the chairman to attend to his duties, the whole Board, as your witty correspondent says, adopt the methods and manners of the fowlvard.— I am, etc., CITIZEN. To the Editor. Sir.—The members of the Hospital Board, or some of them, standing on their dignity have only succeeded in making themselves ridiculous. I hold no brief for the matron, whom I have neither seen nor spoken to for many months; but if the chairman can find anything in her letter other than a proper and respectful representation of facts, admitted to him to be correct, then lie 'has a greater grasp of -the niceties of the English language than I have. If the matron has crossed swords with him on previous occasions, why did ■lie not say so? To make 'her letter as published an excuse for a puerile exhibition of temper, and a hasty resignation, is unworthy both of Mr. Bellringer and the position lie holds. Mr. G. W. Brown's dignified contribution to the debate was that which might have been expected of him. Shake spcarc had such as he in his mind wlwn ho drew the character of Dogberry, ancj spoke of man clothed in a little brief authority playing such tricks before high Heaven as made the angels weep. In this matter, as in dealing with the nurses' petition, some members appear to have lost their heads, and, as I said in a previous letter, don't seem to be able to realise that a person nay be perfectly willing and anxious to remain in a given position and yet be desirous of Improving the conditions under which he o,r she has to work. Messrs Bellringer and Brown are, no doubt, loyal subjects of the Crown, and yet, no doubt, there are some of the laws and regulations under which they have to live which they would alter if they could. Can't tliey sec that the stall' is in exactly a similar case? But let me assure 'Vr. Brown that if the general public has to choose . whether Mr. Brown or Miss Brown has 1 to "get out" (to use his own classical and elegant phrasing], it will not be the lady, it is probably all for the best that affairs have come to a head, and a good row will clear the atmosphere. I am perfectly certain that neither the matron, the nurses, nor the medical staff' want anything unreasonable, wlgle it is equally clear "that the Board—as repre-" scnting the ratepayers —must rule; but let them rule with justice and with courtesy, and not tieat ladies like a pack of unruly children, nor let them fall into the error of thinking they are maintaining their dignity when they are only giving an exhibition of narrow-minded-ness. —I am, etc. VIATOR.