HOSPITAL ANNUAL MEETING.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 9 April 1880, Page 2

HOSPITAL ANNUAL MEETING.

We continue today the remaining por» tion of our report of the above meeting : In reply to a question the doctor said he simply asked to be allowed to sit on jLh^ Committee as an ex officio member; to' give explanations and offer suggestions. Mr Hankin asked whether the doctor had been denied anything by the Com* mittee. Dr Monckton? stud, hp had neyer had a single eomniuiiieation ..acknowledged by the Committee. On one occasion he complained that a tin trough which was tied together with a bit of string, and which had to be pulled about the wards by a a cord, and which had to be filled and emptied with a dipper, was quite unsuifc able for a bath, and interfered with the treatment of patients. To that communication he received no answer. Mr Connolly asked the doctor whether his appointment mentioned anything about ' superintendent.' Dr Monckton said he was appointed Clnef Office, Mr Connolly could call it what he liked. Mr W. H. Jones put several questions touching^the cost of maintenance per head of patients. Dr Monckton said as he bad been re* fused access to the accounts, he had no means of ascertaining what the cost was, or whether ifc was unduly extravagant. If the calculations made by the Committee were correct, the present rate of maintenance would not be excessive, but his opinion was that they were erroneous, as be had good reason to believe that whether from want of knowledge or by design many i|ems of expense had been included under (he heading of ' drugs,' which should have been included in the calculations for diet. For instance, he had reason -to believe that Libeg's.Extract of Seef had been considered as a drug, whereas, it should have been in» cludpd in the ailmentary scale, and this of itself wou d make a considerable aJters ation in the calculation's. s 'The being used for making beef-tea, of course, supplied the place of so much butcher's meat. Mr Connolly asked whether the doctor had ever offered to weigh the supplies as they were delivered at the Hospital. Dr Moockton said t-lj ! at i w,as-fcb,e i! , s duiy of ihe steward, iHe did,* hb'wWePoI e Vfae

occasion ask the baker to point out a 41b loaf, but he could dot do so. Mr Cohen referred at some length in vindication of the action of himself and co-commit teetnen. He blamed the doe* tojKfor going behirid the" bush to express his o'pjnion of the Committee. Dr Monckton denied that he had ever done so, in proof of which he some time ago told Mr Cohen to his face that he held him in such unmitigated contempt that he could not find words in the Em glish language to express himself. Mr Cohen would reccollect the circumstance as it was the last • conversation be had with him. As for his (Dr Monekfon's) character, his cases would prove his quali» fieations. Bat owing to the trea-tment he had received from the Committee, had ir not been that he had a large family he would hare resigned at the end of the first three months. Me M'Gaffin explained that they had gone very carefully Into the calculations, and had made the amount 14s 4,d per head exclusive of medical comforts, aijd the totUl would' not exceed 17s per head. Several other speakers having addressed the meeting, nominations were taken for the Committee. The following nominations we taken : —Messrs Aiken, Cohen, Watson, Craig, Hankin. G. Wise, W. Williams, Wa!s lace, FitzGeraid, . Cbnnolly, Le<>, BrenBan, Twohill, Tilbrook, Murphy, Gulline, Caple?, Campbell, M'Graffin, M'Gaffin, I Collings, Shaw, Budge, Paine, Schulhof, Patterson, Jacobsen, Cochrane, Camp* M'Quarrie, and M'Kenna.