The Hospital and Charitable Institutions Report.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2948, 12 July 1888, Page 2

The Hospital and Charitable Institutions Report.

i Tlio report of the Inspector of Hospitals presented to the House yesterday is of tlio most important character. Confining bis actual report on the hospitals of tie Colony to as brief an outline as possible, Dr McGregor goes into the charitable aid and outdoor relief phases of the question. After aniinad-

verting strongly on tho inciensed

pauper expenditure, in Wairarapa North, ho says:-' When I visited Mastertonon tho. 2nd February, 1888, I found tho Secretary so indisposed that ho would not meet mo, and ho had been in tho samo condition for months before. To get at the books I hdd to I

get a friend to hunt him up and persuade him to give up tho keys of tho office, Except in theininuto book, which had not been kept by him for many months, there were no entries in any other book since tho Bth of June, I made a copy of all the entries in the minute-book, from which I rnako the following extracts; At the meeting of the 3rd August, 1887, there is a stand, ing list of ten females, mostly widows and deserted wives (some of whom were supposed to be in collusion with their husbands). Fivo of theso deserted wives, with about twentyfive children among them, are in receipt of sums from 12s Gdto £1 5s per week outdoor relief, ond three of

them, as the police informed me, aro well known to ba leading immoral lives. One of these who had seven ohildren when deserted by her husband and was openly leading an immoral life, came to tho Board, when with child by another man, declaring that if her relief was not increased from £1 to £lss a week sho woufd forsake her family,' and the Board would be compelled to send them to tho Industrial ficliool. Her demand was agreed to, Were was another

still more glaring caso, wliich I refrain v . from detailing, although it illustrates nearly all the evils of . the outdoor • relief system of this country;' lam at ■ a less to account for the : gatberinc» of . such cases in Mastorton ns a sore of • ; harlior of refuge, andean only surmise.- : that the' softness of the trustees attracted from other places persons to prey on their good uaturo, or that they . '• actually pauperiso theirown: people. 1 by guaranteeing deserted wives m and families against suffering.'; . The-JRwa«. iug fact of this strange history is . that : the Chairman gavo notieo at the meek: ?■ ing of the 14th December last as follows : " That now, as tlio Society has ceased to he supported by volun- • ta ry. contributions, and has : beconw a \ Government institution, it was not bis intention to continue his with it after tho present year." As 'pT illustrating the methods of easy going., charity, I extract the following frotjw thoiiiinutes of the. Hth December ; "A letter was read from asking that' she might receive something beyond the 14s a week paid for ■ Louis P's board :(P was a helpless weak minded creature) as she had much extra trouble in waiting' upon him., Resolved— That, no recompense • of (ho kind bo allowed if it was found' P. had still a separate] attendant, it. king understood that a man engaged by;' ' the society was with hm, at, any: rate at first, and might still be there. The' Secretary to inquire. (The italics' are : mine) ■■ •

Reflering to the Maslerton Hospital the Inspector says: ' f 'Thia is one of Iho most- comfortable hospitals; in the . country, and at'n(y.fo'riiier yisit it was perhaps, the best kept. This year I' notice a ' failing off in. this respect, Thcie were three patients at the time of my, visit. For tjio year ending there were thirty-five patients. in all. The total expenditure was £475, with , fill of liabilities,