The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1887. HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID TRUSTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2500, 14 January 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1887. HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID TRUSTS.

The annual meetings of our Hospital and Charitable Aid Trusts yesterday, affords some insight into the working of our new Hospital and Charitable Aid Act, and creates a.somewhat unfavorable impression of its operation. In the first place it would seem that finances under ■ this measure have atendency, to drift-towards a condition of muddle. . The < annual meeting of contributors takes ..place in January, the end-of the financial year in March, and the visit of the auditor 'who.certifies ,to the accounts in' December. To obtain a proper financial 'statement, it is essential .to dovetail what, is to be ; 'done in December : iiext "with the state-' mentto.be prepared, in.;;M'arch, and, the annual-meeting to.bo held in January,;-and-we trust,the ; ingenious_ parent of the measure,-'. Sir' Robert Stout,- -will - resolve the conundrum. At yesterday's meetings no formal reports' such"', as thoseV which were presented under the old regime , were /submitted, and excepting the explanatory addresses delivered by the Chairmen, the - proceedings. were almost devoid of interest. There were no new candidates for the vacant seats on, the Trust's, and it was understood'that some of the retiring members required a certain amount of-pressure to allow themselves to be re-instated. In fact, it would.appear that those who have been wont to take an active interest in the management -of hospitals and 'charitable aid, find, their duties are less agreeable and satisfactory under the new system than -under, the old There was some credit even * if there 'were ■_ difficulties in carrying on our Hospital and Benevolent Society under the former voluntary system, but now those who are engaged in the- work feel them.selves drifting into the position of poor law guardians. 1 The .power of

imposing a compulsory rate on the district practically rests with them, and though'they'arc' refraining from exercising it and probably anxious to avoid resorting to it, the possession of'sucli a weapon destroys the entente- cordial which formerly existed, between'.'them and their,,,contributors, We may be thankful thatipvoviaion is still made' for the sick and poor in this district, and that. as yet no compulsory rate has been levied to provide for their relief, but we are not''thankful: for tlio new Hospital and Charitable Aid Act, and we shall watch with interest the reports of annual-meetings held under it in other parts of the colony in order to discover whether its provisions are regarded generally as obnoxious,