THE REEFTON HOSPITAL.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 8 March 1880, Page 2

THE REEFTON HOSPITAL.

-♦ [TO THE EDITOB INANGAHUA TTMES.] Sir, — As we are arriving at the time when the public of Reefton will be called upon to elect a new Committee, I think the time is a fitting one^'for tbe consi. teration of the suggestions I am about to make, That the past management bf fhe institution has not won public ap* proval, will not be disputed, but whether this is owing to incapacity on the part of the Committee, the centering of too much Authority in the hands of the wardsman, or the general faultiness of tbe wbole system, is a question I will not attempt to determine. Tbat a great wrong lurks somewhere in the working of the institu* tion. is beyond the least doubt, and to find it out and cure it is the one object. That tbe past management bas been extravagant, if not positively wasteful and reckless, is a matter of general belief, and tbe time has come wben this sort of thing must be knocked on the head. It is plainly to be seen that in future tbe hospital will have to depend for support to a very great extent upon the County Council,, for the daya of free subscript .on-giving in Reefton are no more, .and ifc then becomes the'^duty of the Council to see that its money is being prudently and economically expended. To this end then I would recommend, no less for the future security of the Council, then for tbe satisfaction of the public, that that body appoint a committee from its num« ber to investigate tbe whole question of hospital management, in order to find out where the shoe pinches, and where the vent in the management exists. The character of the recent " inquiry " shows very clearly that the Hospital Committee is the wrong body to tackle such a matter, and as the public interest demands that it should be done, the County Council is the proper body to undertake it. In tbe next place, something should be done to throw tbe burden of hospital maintenance more upon the mining class, for it is past all doubt tbat they do nofc bear their just and reasonable proportion of the load. They may say their wages are small, l ut the business man can fay witb equal force that bis profits are small also, besides a singe man earning £3 per week can well afford to contribute, and if he refuses, why he should be barred from the institution in time of need. In all other parts of the West Coast we see miners by means of concerts* enter-, tainments, and otherwise adding to the funds of the hospitals, but we see nothing of this here, and yet this is understood to be a mining community* I pay, theres fore, that in many respects the time bas come for revolutionising the manages ment of the institution, and I do not see that this can better be done by the appointment of a committee than by the Couucil. For myself and for those with whom I have conversed I can state this much positively — that until some very important alterations are made in the mode of conducting the hospital any appeal for subscriptions will be met with a stern " No." Hoping what I have said will have the effect of attracting attention to the subject, and witb apologies for trespassing at sucb length upon your spaco. [ am, &c., Repobmbb. Reefton, ith March, 1880.