TE AWAMUTU NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2247, 2 December 1886, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU NEWS.

Now that the question of fixing a site for the local hospital is soon t3 be settled it is to be hoped that tho&e who will I will ha\e to do so will lay a*ide every ' personal or local feeling in the matter and fix the site in .some central position which will be accessible from all parts of the district. Everything points to Hamilton as the proper place for this purpose, train* running to it twice a day from every part of Wai pa, Waikato and Piako. As to whether a building specially for the purpose is required is a matter of opinion ; some are of opinion that a cottage should be rented for the present, and I am rather inclined to think this is the correct view ; but the proposal to " board " the patients out i* simply ridiculous. Few people would care for having a person suffering from an infection-, disease in the house, and those who would consent to such a thing for the sake of gain are not the class of people whom sick pet sons would care about having constantly about them, more especially if the patient was possessed of any sense of refinement. Some may say that these objections would be only a sick person's fancies, but the associations and surroundings in these cases have a great influence in accelerating or retarding recovery. But this phase of the question will hardly come up for discussion before the board. The question will be the site and building As regards the latter, it will be a long time before room for more than three or four patients will be required. That thin matter will have to be settled, and that soon, is very evident, for the Auckland Hospital is almost always taxed to its utmost capacity, and though the local body would be \ery willing to pay for their patient*, there might be a difficulty about room. Could accommodation be always relied on, it would be infinitely better to send the sick there as it would be impossible, — at least for the present— to provide such attention as could be obtained in the city. There are trained nurses there, besides a number of doctors who visit frequently, and who can hold consultations when necessary ; the best medical skill in the colony can be obtained almost at a moment's notice, and last but not least, there is the benefit, for country people at any rate, of sea air. Ido not doubt for a moment the skill of the Waikato doctors, but as each of them has a large district under his charge he might be many miles away at the moment he was required, and it could hardly be expected that a resident medical man could be provided at present. Still it we cannot find accommodation in Auckland something must be done towards providing in our own district, and whatever the nature of that accommodation nuy be Hamilton is the place where it will have to be provided, and in my opinion it will be better to rent a house for the present than go to the expense of building one. It will be time enough to spend money in that way when the population increases so much as to necessitate large accommodation for the Bick and injured. At present it is not at all likely that more than two or three patients would be in the hospital at a time. Large sums are wasted every vtMr in various ways by local governing bodies, Mich as forming (spoiling would be the proper teim) roads in the middle of winter, giving odd job*, such as gra\elling and lvpaiiing roads, without calling for tenders, such little jobs being worth £'20. Enough money, I say, is wasted in this manner, without going to the expense of building a hospital that would not perhaps be occupied tin cc months in the year. True, far more money than would be required to erect a suitable building would have been paid in one year to Auckland and the Thames, had not the Act of Separation been passed, but th.it is no reason why unneeessaiy expense should b' incurred. If .1 suitable pl.uv could b.> routed, a pound or Unity -hilling a week would not bo much among the various bodies It will be time enough to build when the exigencies of the case demand it. —[Own Correspondent, Dec. I.]

A sciKNiiM has decided that finh a-© not necessarily cra/-y whea they wp i^ yeiue«