HOSPITAL COSTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 March 1939, Page 6

HOSPITAL COSTS

REPLY BY FARMERS’ UNION TO MR. JORDAN. SOURCE OF INFORMATION WANTED. (By Telegraph—/Hress Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. A reply to Mr T. Jordan, president of the Municipal Association, who had raised the question of hospital upkeep, was made in an official statement by the New Zealand Farmers’ Union last night. “It would be interesting to ascertain the source of Mr Jordan’s information,” said the union, “for neither the . Health Department nor the Hospital Boards’ Association is aware of any recent reliable data being available for this purpose. It is noteworthy that Mr Jordan states he is not concerned about who provides the patients. This again is a vital matter so far as the farming community is concerned. Again, Mr Jordan should be particularly well aware of the fact that large areas of farming land are contained within boroughs. “Mr Jordan fails to realise that the great proportion of the city rates finds its way into the costs which are imposed on lhe farmer. Mr Jordan omits to state that the proportion of population (according to the 1939 Year Book) is, including Maoris, 43 per cent, rural, and 56 per cent, urban. A large proportion of the Maori rates is not collectable. and the farming community has to stand that cost. The figures demonstrate that, even were Mr Jordan’s figures reliable, the incidence of taxation is still very unfair." t