Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 378, 1 August 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

'When the first report of the Visiting Committee of the Hospital appeared, giving an account of the excessive expenditure for alcoholic drinks for the institution,, we urged on a more thorough investigation into the causes of the excess". That recommendation, we understood, was attended to, and we abstained from all further comment until tlie report should be rendered. We have now the.report before us, as well as the explanation of the Resident Surgeon. The public owe the Visiting Committee a ddep debt of gratitude for the efficient manner in which, they have performed their duties, and for the recommendations they have supplied for tlio future manageniQut of. the institution. Feeling, where there ia -so Hindi to praise, that it is uot very enviable ta select anything to object to, -we notwithstanding think the rules have been construed just a little too favorabty to shelter the officials at the Hospital. Perhaps, too, there hag been a. little faltering in pronouncing a judgment on che necessity for such excessive comforts. The Committee, aware of the airs of science when its laymen offer an opinion, have declined to pass judgment. Occupying the lay position ourselves, it is perhaps presumptuous in us to offer one ; still, at the risk of the censure that fools rush on where wise men hesitate, wo yen-, ture to assert our right of private judgment, and to refuse to give up our Godgiven powers to judge oi reasons and weigh facts. The. facts are to us rather startling. From the figures given, we make out that e*ach patient has for the last six months cost the Hospital about Is. 7d. per day ;. and taking the price of brandy at 225. per gallon,, wine 225. 6d., and. porter 15s. per doz^n, and with 80 glasses to the gallon and 3 glasses to each bottle of portei', the pricss run : brandy, 3d. and 3.lotha perglass ; wine, 3gd. per glass ; por- j ter, sd. per glass ; and as porter is the least item in the accounts, we shall do nothing j uj^jrin atrikin^an §^^a^Qf a^t"^. j

per glass, or about five stiff glasses of miscellaneous grog per day for every mail*, woman, and child in the Hospital for the last six months. To believe on the dixit of science that this is necessary is rather more than our lay credulity can admit. It ia quantum suffidt, we should say, had all the cases been special cases. For ourselves, we say it would have kept us in a stato of muddle, if not of absolute helplessness, all the time it was administered. But it is not pretended that all were special cases ; it is only alleged that there w:is a greater number than usual. But how many more than usual we are not told. There may have been only 3 or 4 and yet more than usual, and these may have been for a short time ; neither does the Surgeon's report say how much per day was the rule in such cases. Nothing could he more unsatisfactory than this indefinite way of giving the information sought — it would have been better withheld ; and yet we have au assurance further that, with the exception of porter, it has all been by the Surgeon's order, and, according to the AVardsman, it has all been consumed by the patients. . Well, suppose one-tljird of the patients got none, we have 7£ glasses per day for the remaining two-thirds. Again, that this is necessary is more than our lav credulity will admit ; and until a parallel is found to the above in an institution administered under strict rule, we shall hold to our lay opinion — let science say what it may. In so far as ignorance of existing rules is concerned, the Committee have freely admitted their own laoh.es — they have inherited a vicious system , but they deserve the credit of having found out their faults and given pledges of future amendment. But this is not all. Elected from year to yeai', as they arc, they are excusable for having fallen intr> the loose ways established for them. But we would like to know has the Resident Surgeon and Secretary been all these years connected with the Hospital and never looked into the rules of the institution, for the management of which they were responsible '? If so, we must plainly say that in them this is not a misfortune but a fault. It is not excusable as in the case of the Committee, but altogether inexcusable. We should be far from blaming the Visiting Committee for the generous tone of their report in regard to breaches of the rules on the part of those charged with the management of the institution. We should have been glad to have been able to agree with the»n. All, however, we have to say is that if the officers concerned accept of the generous interpretation of tho rules given by the Visiting Oommittpe as a guide for their future, action ; if they should as selfishly look out for laches in the rules, as the Committee have generously furnished excuses from that source, we should then have as little confidence in the future as we have satisfaction in the past.