VOTING AT HOSPITAL MEETINGS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 393, 23 September 1874, Page 2

VOTING AT HOSPITAL MEETINGS.

For the information of our readers, we give the following extract from existing Ordinances relative to the qualifications of voters at Hospital meetings. The original Hospital Ordinance, 1862, has two clauses relating to voting — the Bth and 11th. Both these have been repealed : the Bth by the Amendment Ordinance, 1874, and tha 11th by the Amendment Ordinance, 1870. The 1870 Ordinance, requiring th» contribution to be paid one month before the meeting, has the following clause: — "Notwithstanding anything in the said ' Hospital Ordinance,;} 1865 ' to the contrary no contributor to the funds of any Hospital shall b© entitled to vote at any meeting of the election of the Committee or other officers of such. Hospital unless such contributor shall be of the full age of twenty-one years and shall have paid his annual contribution of one pound at the least or an amount of ten pounds in one sum to the funds o? such Hospital at least one month before the date at which such meeting shall be held." This clause, however, is partly repealed by the sth clause of the 1872 Ordinance, requiring only that the contribution be paid on any day previous to the day of meeting. "Notwithstanding anything in the ' Hospitals Ordinance 1870 ' to the contrary any contributor who shall have paid his annual contribution of one pound at the least or an amount of ten pounds in one sum to the funds of any Hospital on any day previous to the date at which the meeting shall be held for the election of the committee or other officers of such Hospital shall be entitled to vote at such meeting and the second section of the said Ordinance in as far as contrary hereto shall be and the same is hereby repealed." The 3rd clause of the 1874 Ordinance seems by implication to admit of the payment of the contribution at any time previous to the voting. " The Committees of Hospitals shall be elected by the majority of contributors either of the annual sum of one pound at the least or of ten pounds in one sum to the said institutions respectively who may be present at the respective meetings to be called for the pnrpose of any such election as provided in the ' Hospitals Ordinance 1862 ' and the ' Hospitals Ordinance 1870 ' or any amendment thereof and the Committee may by any rules made under section three of the ' Hospitals Ordinance 1862 ' provide for declaring that an^Bl member of such Committee shall vacate »BH seat if absent from a certain number o\. meetings of the Committee and for election of auother member of Committee in place of any member whose seat shall so be declared vacant." These clauses refer directly to voting at Committee elections, and it remains a question whether all contributors of any sum have not the power to vote on ordinary business at the general meetings. It will be noted that the 1870 and 1872 Ordinances speak of an " annual contribution," and the 1874 Ordinance of an " annual sum." Tho question arises, What is an annual sum? Is a contribution (that has been given for some years at irregular times) paid in December to be regarded as an annual sum or contribution for the pmpose of the election meeting held in the middle of January ? If the Ordinances will bear this interpretation, then the Committee acts ultra vires in otherwise defining this term. The only regulation passed by the Committee to date bearing on this point is part of the sth, which we give by permission. " Every person who shall contribute any sum not less than £1, but under £10, annually, shall be deemed to be an annual contributor." "We understand that full copies of the Rules will be circulated among ths contributors prior to the quarterly meeting in October, at which they will be finally considered.