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Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2260, 4 January 1887, Page 2

The recent sending in of a fever case to Hamilton from a Waikato country district, and the utter absence of local preparations for the dealing with such a case, brings forcibly before us the necessity of practical action being taken by the new Waikato Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. A portion of the Auckland Press has taunted us with having gained separation, less with thej object of, 1 providing for our sick and needy than of getting rid of the burden of contributing our quota to the common expense. The four counties and the two boroughs of Waikato have sought and obtained separation from the parent boards actuated by a very different motive. They have no wish to shirk the full measure of their responsibility, either in ing provision for their sick or for their destitute, and we trust that the action of the newly appointed board, when it once feels its feet, will make this unmistakeably plain. What they did jib at was the unfair and outrageous load which they were called upon to carry. Their contributions, amounting to a very large sum, were altogether out of proportion to the very few cases of sickness or destitution which they furnished to the Auckland, and Thames Boards, and they never would have sought separation at all had they been merely called, upon to pay in proportion to the benefits they received. So great was this disproportion that we. can afford to maintain a separate hospital in Waikato, and maintain our own destitute for a less annual sum than a third of that which, as part of the Auckland district, we should have been called upon to contribute. Having been enabled by separation to effect so large a saving in the administration of these duties, to say nothing of the local convenience gained, and the advantages of securing the services of a first-class medical practioner in the district, it would be strange, indeed, if the Waikato should begrudge the necessary expenditure for carrying out its share of the compact. It has freed itself from grave and intolerable liabilities in matters which, if administered from a distance, such as Auckland and the Thames, must have demoralised its people and have caused the Act to become a truly pauper incubating institution, and it will not now shirk the grave responsibility of itself providing for its population those appliances and benefits which it refuses to become liable for through a foreign channel.

The new board, having taken hold of the plough, must not look back. It must face the question boldly, and having fortified itself with the opinions of competent medical men, of long experience in the district, select some convenient centre as the site for a hospital, having in its selection a general regard to healthfulness, facilites for communication from all parts of the district, and the advantages of a good and abundant supply of water— and a gravelly soil. Which shall be the particular site, whether a hospital shall be built for the purpose, or a suitable building be adapted for use, are mere questions of detail which can be discussed as a matter of economy. One thing we believe we may guarantee, that should Hamilton be selected as the site, the borough council or the domain board will not hesitate to grant a block of ten or twelve acres, or more if required, in a suitable position, free of cost to the board for hospital purposes.

And really when we consider the extent of the obligations we have been enabled to throw off by becoming a separate district, we should not hesitate to incur the comparatively small, but necessary cost of providing in a suitable manner for our own sick. Putting out of the question the fact that the Auckland Hospital is already over-crowded, that the Auckland Board is smarting under the loss of a large proportion of its revenue, which it had reckoned on receiving from us in return for a very small expenditure upon us, and that it is still further irritated by

legal resistance from us against all further demands for contributions, can it possibly be expected that it will consent, after the end of March next, to receive cases, and there may be urgent ones, which, in the absence of proper provision here, must necessarily gravitate to Auckland or the Thames.

Nay, more, we may go a step further and ask whether in such circumstances both these boards may not, and with some show of justice perhaps, call upon us to show cause, in the interests of our people as well as theirs, why we should not be forced back again by the Government or the Legislature into that yoke which we have just escaped from 1 The present board has been elected for the performance of no mere perfunctory duty, and will, it is to be hoped, fully weigh the grave responsibilities which it has undertaken.