MASTERTON HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9173, 22 August 1908, Page 5

MASTERTON HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE.

THE ESTIMATES DIFFICULTY SETTLED. FINDINGS OF A COMMISSION. The difference which has existed between the Wairarapa District Hospital Board and the Masterton Hospital Trustees regarding the cutting down of the latter body's estimates for the current year by the Board, was settled in a practical manner yesterday by the award of a Commission which sat to inquire into the matter, and which was authorised by the Minister lor Hospitals to amend the estimates as it saw fit, under the provisions of the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Act. The Commission was composed of three representatives, Mr W. P. James, S.M., who acted for the Minister, Mr Richmond Beetham, who represented the District Board, and Mr J. M. Coradine, who acted as for the Hospital Trustees. Messrs E. G. Eton and J. B. Keith, and F. G. Moore and J. C. Boddington, chairmen and secretaries, respectively, of the Board and Trustees were also present. The Commissioners went into details exhaustively regarding the items in dispute, and examined the Matron (Mrs Morrison) and Medical Superintendent (Dr A. Hosking) of the Hospital, and also the other officials present. The fact that the estimates were framed prior to the new hospital being put on a working basis had made the matter of calculation difficult for both the Trustees and the Board, and as the hospital has now more than covered four working months the details supplied to ths Commission rendered their task of amending the estimates a simpler matter than it would otherwise have been. As a result of the investigations of the Commissioners, the estimates of the Trustees of the Hospital were found in most cases to have been fairly within the mark, and the Commission upheld them. In a few instances reductions of a comparatively small nature were made. The following table ahows the details of the Commission's findings, the items mentioned being the only ones which the District Board reduced:-

A matter of some consequence was the fact that the amount estimated by the Trustees for "rations," £7OO (agreed to by the Board), was found to be on the four months" <«>;penditure under that head to date less than the Trustees will require. The sum of £279 has been expanded by the Trustees in four months, and if this rate is maintained until the end of the financial year the Trustees will be £137 to the bad. The Commissioners were approached with a view to having the allowance under the head of "rations" increased proportionately to the probable disbursement in that respect, but they decided that it was outside the limits of their authority to do this.

Amount Allowed Amount by CornOriginal Allowed missionEstimate. by Board, , ers. £ £ £ s. Salaries 1,000 736 975 Medicine 300 200 275 Fuel and lighting 350 275 337 10 Furniture 200 100 200 Instruments 100 50 100 Incidentals 100 50 100 Furnishing operating theatre 150 100 150 Road formation and grounds 350 200 350