S.C. HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2519, 22 June 1893, Page 2

S.C. HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the above Board was held on Tuesday. Present— Messrs J. Jackson (chairman), W. M. Moore, J. M. Barker, G. H. Graham, A. Sherratt and R. H. Rhodes. Apologies were received from Mr J. Talbot and Mr Gillingham. The chairman said he had not much to report. Of the works let last month the shelter shed had been finished and the front wall was nearly so. Tenders had come in for various supplies and the board would have to deal with them ThoJj pay - sheets presented totalled* £l4B 7s Gd for charitable aid, and £2ll 12s 5d for the hospital. These payments leave £465 16s in the bank. The Timaru Borough Council and Waimate County Council had not yet paid the first contribution for the year. As soon as they had done so the claim would be made on the G overmen! for the subsidy. Mr Talbot, in apologisng for his absence, requested that the discussion regarding the barracks be postponed for a month The secretary reported that ilia had written to the member for Timaru re garding the board’s desire to have the old hospital reserve vested in them, and had received a reply from Mr Hall-Jones that he had conferred with the Minister of Lands, and the latter promised to deal with the matter in a Powers and Conn tracts Aot,

The steward reported that the limit of residence had been exceeded by six patients, whose stay had respectively run from 66 to 579 days.—Mr Sherratt said they ought to treat all alike, and he spoke of an old woman being turned out of the hospital, and a young one being kept in, both being incurable cases. —The chairman said one was under medical treatment, and the other was not. Mr Graham’s notice of motion was then taken, to amend Rule 70, by adding words to the effect that if a patient refuses to undergo a capital or important operation, or if a parent or guardian refuses to consent in the case of a child, when the medical staff decides it to be necessary, the patient “ may be discharged.”— After some discussion it was pointed out that rule 77 says “ the duty of discharging a patient rests with the medical officer,” and this was considered to meet the case. Mr Graham’s motion was then put and lost. - Mr Jowsey stated the instruments which Dr Hogg had been authorised to buy in Australia had come to hand—exactly £2O worth. A traveller with a large number of samples was expected next week, and it would be well to give authority to purchase a few articles from him.

The following letter was received from Messrs Perry, Perry and Kinnernoy, the board’s solicitors “In accordance with your instructions we advise as to the best mode of securing to your board reimbursement of the expenses incurred by aiding or maintaining persons who have freehold houses in which they reside but are otherwise dependent upon your board. We understand that your board is desirous that such persona should retain their houses while they reside in them, but should not have power to mortgage or sell their properties, and that subject to is yonr Board should have power to let Jr sell for the purpose of recouping its u utlay as far as possible. In order to acornplish the above object it will be Necessary in each case to adopt one or other of the following courses, viz ,—(«) To obtain a transfer by the owner of the property to your board subject to an agreement embodying the terms above stated. (6) To obtain a mortgage to your board by such owner to secure the expenses of his maintenance, but subject to the terms above stated. Both the courses above mentioned are practicable, and either would be effectual. The board has full power to enforce a sale of such properties or payment of the rents to it. This power exists by the combined operation of the Destitute Persons Act, 1877, and the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1885.” —Mr Moore stated that he had looked into the Act, and found that sections 33 and 34 gave the board the power they needed to prevent the owner from dealing with the property except by will.—The secretary was instructed to prepare for next meeting a list of persons to whom these clauses apply. An old man, who gave his age as 64, waited on the board to ask that he be allowed rations. The chairman stated that the man had been admitted to the barracks but he went into town and returned so often in a state of intoxication that he ordered him to leave and come before the board. —It was decided to allow him 30 rations a month.—The man said that was very little, 3id a day was not much to live on. In reply to a question the secretary stated that a “ ration,” which costs ojd, consists of lib of bread, of mutton, lib potatoes, of sugar tea, and £oz salt, with some liberty to take other commodities instead of those stated. Mr Moore drew attention to a number of cases of widows with children, and aged couples, who are receiving a much smaller allowance in proportion Tenders' for hospital supplies for a year were received and accepted as follows; —

Milk (One tenders) : Bennett 21d per quart (an advance of Jd). Newcastle coal (one tender) : P. Kane, 27s (an advance of Is 3d) per ton. Wine, beer and spirits (one tender), R. R. Taylor. Butchers’ meat (two tenders); W. Gilchrist. The chief items were, beef, 3£d and 2£d; mutton, 2ljd and 2£d ; gravy beef, Id and 3d; veal, 2jd and 3d; pork, 3d. Bread (two tenders) : Burford, 35d (accepted). Drugs and Chemicals, etc., Messrs Gunn & Brien, Groceries: D. Owers. Drapery: the tenders for this class were remitted to the matron for report. Successful tenderers for the charitable aid supplies were• Timaru—Rations (three tenders) ; J. Shepherd; fuel, P. Kaue j funerals (two tenders) : Lister & Barrie. TenaukaRations (two tenders) : J. Harrison. Geraldine Rations (two tenders) : R. H. Pearpoiut. Fairlie—Rations, J. Siegert. Waimate Rations (two tenders) : Manchester Bros, and Goldsmith. ' RANGITATA DEBATING SOCIETY. At the third meeting of the above society, held on Friday evening last, the subjects for debate were “ The Evils of Strong Drink” and “Will Prohibition Prohibit.” The paper submitted to the audience was a very exhaustive one, and touched on every pffise of the drink question. The following were the principal points of discussion : —(1) That strong drink is the great producing cause of pauperism, and crime, and general misery ; (2) the plea of the infringement of the liberty of the subject; (3) that if you cannot make men moral by act of Parliament, you certainly can control their public acts, and caxx prevent to a great extent their indulgence iu immorality ; (4) that a great deal of the success of any legislative measures passed with a view to the restriction or supervision depends upon the maimer iu which they are administered by the magistrates, or others upon whom the administration devolves; (5) that if Prohibition were obtained expenditure and revenue would together be reduced and there would be no actual loss. The gain in these respects would not be to the full extent all at once evident immediately upon the suppression of the traffic, as v/e have an inheritance of pauperism and crime from the past which could not at oxxce be thrown off, but which must remain foxyears a serious burden. Au intex-esting discussion ensued on the compensation question, on the best ways of obtaining Prohibition, and on what would be substantial for public houses in country places. On the motion being put to the meeting it was found that the majority were in favour of Prohibition. The secretary intimated that at the next meeting there would be a short discus Jon on “The Uses and Abuses of Tobacco,” which would be followed by an interestihg paper by Mr R. N. Hawkes on “ Reminiscences of Early Times on the Goldfields of Otago.” A vote of thanks to the member for his paper terminated the meeting.

CRICKET. —A London cablegram of the 20th June says the Australians began a match with The Players on that date, and knocked up 189 in their first innings, 18 being contributed by Trott. The Players made only 89 in their first innings, and had to follow on. At the call of time they had nub together 33 ruua without the lo s of a

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESSES. The Hou. W. P. Reeves addressed a crowded meeting of his constituents at Christchurch, numbering nearly 3000 persons, last Monday night. The Mayor was in the chair. Mr Reeves met with a cordial reception, raised laughter by describing the night as as damp as the powder of the Opposition and as dismal as the prophecies of the Conservatives. A colleague of his, addressing a meeting there a few weeks, ago had been taken to task for being too apologetic. That charge should not be made against him—he was too proud of the legislation of the last two years to make any apology He paid a tribute to the memory of his late leader, and said they would be paying the best tribute by forgetting the past and remembering only the future. The greatest work achieved by Mr John Ballance was enabling a fusion to be made between the old and new Liberals—a task which the Australian Liberal leaders had not succeeded in accomplishing, HIR ROBE HT STOUT. It had been rumoured he was to be turned out of the Ministry to make room for Sir Robert Stout. He believed that rumour originated in the temple of truth —he did not mean the edifice that smiled on Latiir e: square, but that which frowned on Cashel street. —(Great laughter.) B was a brilliant notion to sow discord between the two men affected, but both of them appraised the rumour at its true value. He rejoiced at the return to public life of Sir Robert Stout. Both the I nangahna and the Wanganui elections showed the temper of the country. He believed that block votes had nothing to do with the results, but they were au indication that Mr Ballance was now esteemed at his true worth. THE OPPOSITION. The Opposition during the last few weeks had shown it had not learned much from the country. As to the future they were distinctly vague—they did not say what they wore going to do, but they were cocksure about what the Government were going to do. The non-realisation of Opposition predictions in the past had created a remarkable revulsion in favor of the Government. Their chief speakers now contradicted each other in their views of the Government policy and legislation, and illustrated the Munchausen story of the lion and the crocodile. Captain Russell had said that a diminution of the value of the exports always followed the advent to power of a Liberal Government. Exports might diminish in value from causes at the other end of the world, but the true criterion was the bulk of the exports, and the increase of bulk showed that industry had not been crippled nor production diminished, and he quoted Mr Gale, ex-president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, to the effect that had values kept up the present exports would have been the highest in the history of the colony. He quoted Mr E. G. Wright, member for Ashburton, to the effect that the Railway Commissioners had sweated Ashburton of £3OOO a year by their unjust grain traffic, and yet Mr Wright would retain the commissioners. Mr Wright contended that if a Minister were placed on the hoax’d the commissioners would be dummies, and others thought that the Minister would be the dummy. He (Mr Reeves) thought there should be some measure of direct popular control of this important branch of the public service. THE LABOR BUREAU. In reply to the atacks oxx the cooperative contract system, which had been numerous, he pointed out that some of the workers on the contracts complained that they did not make enough wages, and he quoted the Otago Daily Times in favor of the system. He defended the Labor Bureau, though his opponents had said it was not necessary for him to do so. He quoted and refuted the ex-Minister for Lands in saying that the bureau gave tickets to Australian spielers to go to distant race meetings, while withholding assistance to iudqstrious rjxeq, and declared that the policy of the bureau was not to give assistance to those who did xxot need it, but to assist those who did. PUBLIC WORKS. Mr Richardson had attacked the public works expenditure as being larger than in the previous year, which h?xd been 1 irger than in the year before, and contended that it was not right to construct works out of revenue, and tha* the expenditure had been out of loan with the exception of £50,®00. He (Mr Beeves) denied this, and said the statement showed how little Mr Richardson knew of how the public money was spent when he could not distinguish between loan money and revenue. Referring to the Opposition statement that a surplus of £500,000 did not exist, as £200,000 had already been spent, Mr Richardson said only £50,000 Ixad been spexxt, to either he or Mr Wright was wrong. LABOR BILLS. Mr Rolleston had declared that about the worst feature of the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill was the proposal to appoint a Supreme Court Judge as px-osi-deut of the board, while Captain Russell thought this was the best point. Mr Wright and Sir J. Hall wore equally opposed on the compulsory clause, and other leading Oppositionists contradicted each other with equal dix’ectness on every point of the Government policy, and even oxx his own personal characteristics, LAND AND INCOME TAX. He dealt with the dislike of the Opposition expressed to the introduction of the Land and Income Tax, and their present disclaimer of any desire to repeal it. If the results had been as had as predicted, the Opposition were not (hung their duty in not making every effort to repeal it. The Conservatives disclaimed their title, and declared themselves to be true Liberals. He quoted from Oppositioxx speakers’ denunciations of the Government legislation, and compared them with a speech made by Lord Salisbury in the H ouse of Lords tq sfyow that Conservatism was Conservatism all the world over. He referred to Mr Richardson’s of the Government FINANCE as being strong and disagreeable. Mr Richardson had said much of the retrenchment was on items over which the Government had no c mlrol ; which was true, as the votes over which the Government had control had only gone ui> £20,000, leaving a total of £29,000 over which they had no control. These included £25,000 of an increase on tbe expenditure on working railways by the qo:n mission pps, over whom tixe Government had no control. The increase of the capitation vote for education was £6482, and another item of £11,400 wa,s a refund to a company for taxation unjustly paid. These items amounted to £43,351, so that the actual reduction on the controlled expenditure was £23,731. Mr Richardson’a figures with reference to the ebb and flow of the population were also erroneous. This was the gentleman who made charges against the Government of flagrant miex’epreseutatiou. LAND. Air Richardson had said that the Goveruumt Jmcl sold, laud lor cosh to almost

the same amount as the previous Government, bin iVlr Reeves showed that the receipts for cash for land during the present Government’s term were on account nf sales made by the previous Government, the buyers rushing to pay ciah before the Act could be passed to prevent it. He quoted figures showing that settlement had made great progress under the present Government. In Mr Richardson’s last year of office £60,000 worth of land was sold for cash, but it was doubtful if 12 bona fide settlers were placed on all this valuable estate. BORROWING}. With regard to the statement that the Government intended to rush into borrowing and reduce the customs revenue, ho denounced it as a bribe to the constituencies. The Opposition speakers had advocated borrowing a quarter of a million a year, adding to that £120,000 from revenue, to be spent on public works. Of this £200,000 was to be spent on the Otago Central. Was it likely that Auckland would be satisfied with this t INFLUX OF POPULATION. It had been stated that the Labor Bureau and co-operative contracts had not checked the exodus, but they had been also condemned for causing the influx. He thought that both had a share iu checking the exodus, but it was too much to blame those institutions for the panic and distress in Australia, which were the almost entire cause of the emigration from Australia. People were leaving Australia for North and South America, Africa, Tasmania, and even England, as well as for New Zealand. The Government were taking steps to warn Australians that they were not likely to better their condition by coming here in largo numbers. - As to the co-operative contracts, false statements by the Conservatives as to the amounts men were earning had brought some men over. He had found that the Christchurch unemployed were tip most difficult to deal with. The reasons were that there was no Crown lands for sale there, and there was no bush-felling, and few Canterbury men could tackle that work in the North Island. There was no help in Canterbury from private employers during the winter. To say that the bureau did nothing for Christchurch working men was a downright and infamous falsehood. He was actually attacked for a preference said to bo shown Christchurch men. The figures for the last two months showed that 160 men from Christchurch were sent to work by the Government. So ranch had nob been done in the time for any other town iu New Zealand. TUB CHEVIOT. He had not shown a special favor to Christchurch men, but he had to deal with special circumstances. He was proud to say that the road making at Cheviot was absorbing over 100 men. When he stood at the last election he expressed a desire to let light into the dark mass of desolation in that part of the colony. He had already let some light iu, and if Parliament would consent he would settle that estate with working, industrious, and prosperous settlers. The Government courted the fullest investigation, and were prepared to defend the purchase. Tip Government bought the estate for two reasons—partly in defence of the Treasury, and partly from a desire for the progress' of land settlement. It had been stated that the Minister far Lauds had done nothing for peal settlement, but when the report was laid on the table it would be seen by irrefutable figures that his administration has hastened settlement. SWEATING. Factory inspection had been denounced on one hand as idle, and on the other as tyrannical. He would reply by reference to the Van Breda case, which Mrs Aidis had made so much of, and he contrasted this case with that of Professor Aidis, who had been hastily dismissed from his office. Scores and scores of girls were working for less than (Is or 12s a week, as had beep shown by the recent disclosures iu the shirt-making wages iu Wellington. It was such things that it was the object of factory inspection to prevent. He referred to the American Labor Department in terms of admiration, whose statistics proved that long-worked, underpaid labor was the dearest, and fairly-paid and worked labor the cheapest. He thanked the American department for their courteous information. He detailed his intentions as regards future labor and educational legislation, and closed by declaring that the prospects of the Liberal party were never brighter than now, and by exhorting his hearers to do nothing to cause dissension in the Liberal ranks, and imperil what had been Mr John Balance's life work—a united Liberal party. Mr Reeves resumed his seat amid prolonged applause, after speaking for over two hours. Aftar questions, votes of thanks to and confidence iu Mr Reeves, and confidence in the Government, were carried unanimously, the following amendment being withdrawn, and afterwards carried as a separate resolution : —“ That this meeting is of the opinion that no Miqiqtx-y oxmember of Parliament is entitled to the confidence of the Liberal electors unless prepared tq grant to the prohibitionists the saiue right to control the liquor traffic at the ballot-box that they possess upon other questions,” Mr Hark ness, M.H.R., addressed his constituents at Nelson on Monday night. He received a vote of thanks. Mr M’Lcau, addressed his constituents at Wellington oa Monday night. 11 e, reviewed at length the w<-rk of last session, and at the conclusion of ifis address a vote of thanks and' renewed confidence in the Government was carried, Mr Scobffi Mackenzie addre,-.s-,4 an enormous meeting in the Oddfellows* Hull, Ashburton, on Tuesday night. The mayor occupied the chair. Mr Mackenzie came at the invitation of several loading .settlers with the object of having both aspects of the' political situatfiovi ventilated. Mr John Mackenzie having spoken only a fortnight before. After a clever in.tTOctnotion Mr Scobie Tvf ackon vjo the Government of being abouc the absentee tax, which Y t -ns simple ineffictive, !\qd in tho S{ bursting” up ” question, which was also ineftbteivo, and bmii had been, Section erica at the last election. The financial policy was poor, inasmuch as the income from all sources i f revenue was the same as nnd.-r the previous Government, plus that accrued xi-. iu i atmal expansion of the colony’s productiveness by the energy and thrift of the people. There had been only one change in the financial policy, that from the property tax to the laud and income lax, but the income was virtually the same. He accused Mr W. P. Reeves of helping Sir Harry Atkinson to put on taxation to help protection and to m=ct the deficit left by the Liberal Government. Sir Harry Atkinson succeeded, and then at a speech at Dunedin Mr Reeves accused Sir Harry Atkinson’s Government of laying on crushing taxation. The surplus was the result of the Atkinson economy and the Atkinson financial policy. Mr Mackenzie spoke for two hours and a quarter, keeping the large audience iu rapt attention, highly amu- cd at aud applauding his witty

sallies. A hearty vote of thanks was recorded, and cheers were given when he rose to acknowledge the vote. A section of the audience also gave cheers for Mr Seddon. MONETARY AND COMMERCIAL. London, June 18. Sheepskins are in fair demand, but prices have declined about a Jd. For forward shipments of Australian wheat sellers are asking 31s, but buyers refuse to give more than 30a fid. For Australian wheat on passage sellers want 30s 3d, but buyers will not give more than 29s 9d. Forward business in Australasian cargoes is only done at an advance. All cargoes off-coast have been disposed of. June 19. Justice Williams has authorised the reopening of the Australian Joint Stock Bank on the Loudon directors giving Mr Stewart, the Official Receiver, a receipt for the assets. The Bank of Victoria and Commercial Bank of Australia have reopened and are paying money drafts; other business is quiet. A large quantity of European meat has been destroyed in London owing to the cold air stores in Smithlield being filled to repletion. The holders of bonds of the Argentine Republic have agreed to accept the sum of £1,500,000 yearly for five years, when the full rate of interest payments must be resumed. The Daily Telegraph,' in connection with the present attempt to introduce the frozen meat trade upon the Continent, points out that if Paris in 1870 had been provided with refrigerating stores she could have held out against the Germans for five years, and that Metz need not have capitulated for a year at least. Owing to the drought hay is at £7 per ton, and supplies are being obtained from Russia. Washington, June 20. The Bank of New Hanover, Wilmington, has failed. President Cleveland has decided to anticipate the payment of September interest on Government bonds, so as to alleviate the tightness of the market.

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