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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2425, 14 October 1886, Page 2

We expressed an opinion sometime) ago that the new Hospital and Ciiari-1 table Aid Act of llie .Government would have the eflect of killing voluntary eflort in this district, and the experiences of tho Mastcrton Hospital Trustees so far aro confirmatory of our anticipations, There has been a serious falling-offof ordinary subscriptions, and the Trustees have issued a circular appealing to the public of this district to help them to maintain the institution without resorting to the compulsory levy, which is theinevitubli; alternative for an exhausted exchequer. Uur local contemporary interprets tljis appeal as a threat, but if there is any menace to the public, it emanates from the drastic Act now in force, and not from the Trustees, who are anxious to avoid having recourse to tho means which they aro compelled by law to adopt if voluntary subscriptions prove to be inadequate. Cur contemporary suggests that before resorting to " the extortion of unwilling subscriptions fiom a fairly benevolent coiiimuniiy" tho Trustees should make an effort to reduce their expenditure. If the present position of the Trustees is one of having "to extort unwilling subscriptions" the sooner lliey fall back on a late llie better, but we are certainly under the impression that a considerable section ol the community take a pride and pleasure in maintaining the Mastertan Hospital and that whenever it is in need there will be found willing and cheerful givers. There is a misconception respecting the new act which is prejudicial lo the collection of subscriptions, but this is « difficulty which the Trustees are endeavoring to remove. The course our contemporary advises is retrenchment, but ho does not indicate in what direction tho pruning knife should bo applied. Latterly there has been a paucity of patients in die Hospital, and the staff has been comparatively idle, but the pendulum may shortly swing back in the opposite direc'ioiiand in a few weeks the resources and staff of the establishment may be overtaxed, No doubt the Trustor s could reduce tho salaries of tho medical officer, tho custodian and tho Secretary, but would it bo wise to do so ? Dors our contemporary recommend that this should bo done, or if lie docs not what other retrenchment is practicable 1 For many year* the Hospital has been regarded as a thoroughly efficient establishment, as one of the model hospitals of the Colony, Is it worth while for the Trustees to place it on a different footing in the future to that which it has occupied in the past, To maintain it at the present standard somo two hundred Odd pounds a year are required in tho shape of voluntary contributions. Is it to much to ask town settlers for a hundred a year and country settlers for a similar amount to keep such a valuable institution afloat? If settlers aro wise they will insist upon maintaining the institution by means of voluntary contributions, If these are once abandoned and tho Trustees have recourse to levying on Local Bodies for the funds they require, (ho administration of the Hospital will he less economical in the fiituro than it has been in the past, For years past the managers of the Hospital havo had to be incessantly urging on the public the claims of this valublea institution. The money they have obtained has been secured by constant and unremitting effort, and there has been a constant struggle to make both ends meet. If a rato were onco levied all difhculty in obtaining ways and means would: at once disappear, and the ' necessity for economising expenditure would be entirely romoved. When our contemporary asks the Trustees not to extort unwilling subscriptions he virtually urges them to abandon the voluntary systom and enforce the rate, unless he is prepared to show where retrenchment in their expenditure can bo effected without impairing theefficiency ot the institution, Wo are of the opinion that the subscription list of the Hospital shows that a very considerable number of town and

country settlers who are in a position to give n smalbtinual' subscription to the Hospital, never contribute a farth-_ ing towards it. Should the Trustees impair the efficiency of tho institution by a policy of retienehmeiit in order to save the pockets of these illiberal settlers, or sha'l they- do as they are now doing, nsk Ihom to do their duty, and point out to I hem that if they fail, therein a rate which will touch them is inevitable under the existing law?