9

H.—22a

Remit No. 2 was then put and carried. Motion No. 25. Mr. Tapper (Otago Benevolent Institution) proposed, and Mr. Talboys (Otago Benevolent Institution) seconded, '' That voluntary contributors be allowed to elect a member of the Board." —Carried. Remit No. 4. Ashburton Hospital Board. —The words " and town districts " be inserted after the word " borough " in the first line of clause 4, subsection (1). —Put and carried. Remits 45 to 53 including 46a, were then discussed, and the Conference decided " That the position of the Chairman should be maintained as an honorary one." Remits 53 to 56 were put, and on them the following motion was proposed by Mr. Carson (Wanganui Hospital Board), and seconded by Mr. Burns (Thames Hospital Trustees) :— Motion No. 25. " That the members of the Board and Chairman, when on Board business, ba paid all locomotive expenses, together with 12s. 6d. per diem." —Carried: For, 54; against, 10. The voting was as follows: — Ayes. —Separate institutions, hospitals: Thames, AVaihi, Coromandel, Gisborne, Wellington, South Wairarapa, Masterton, Napier, Grey River, Reefton, Kumara, Westland, Oamaru, Cromwell, Naseby, Arrow, Wakatipu, Wallace and Fiord, Northern Wairoa. Hospital Boards: Thames, Patea, Wanganui, Wairarapa, Hawke's Bay, Ashburton, North Canterbury, Otago. Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards : North Auckland, Auckland, Waihi, Bay of Plenty, Waiapu, Cook, Waikato, Hawera, Palmerston North, Wairau, Buller, Inangahua, Grey, Westland, Waitaki, Maniototo, Wallace and Fiord. Separate institutions, charitable aid : St. Andrew's Orphanage, Nelson; Reefton Ladies' Benevolent Society; Greymouth Benevolent Society; Hokitika Benevolent Society; Samaritan Home, Christchurch; North Otago Benevolent Society. Charitable Aid Boards: Patea and Wanganui, Wellington and AVairarapa, Ashburton and North Canterbury, Otago and Tuapeka. Noes. — Separate institutions, hospitals: Mercury Bay, Dunedin, Southland. Hospital Boards: Coromandel, Wellington. Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards: Taranaki, Stratford, Nelson. Separate institutions, charitable aid: Otago Benevolent Institution. Charitable Aid Boards : Thames and Coromandel. On remit No. 57 the Conference agreed that this scale of travelling-expenses should also extend to members of committees. Remit No. 59. Ashburton Hospital Board. —The word "twenty" be inserted in place of the word " ten " in the first line in clause 28, subsection (3). —Carried. Remits 60 to 63, with reference to power being given Boards to sell real property, was discussed, and remit No. 60 (from the Waitaki Hospital and Charitable Aid Board.—Section 46 : That in the event of any small properties coming into the hands of the Boards, power be given to sell) was agreed to. Motion No. 26. Mr. Rutherford (Palmerston North Hospital and Charitable Aid Board) moved, and Mr. Bellringer (Taranaki Hospital and Charitable Aid Board) seconded, " That power be given to the Boards, subject to the Minister's approval, to sell or exchange any lands or portion of lands vested in them and found to be unsuitable or not necessary for hospital and chari-table-aid purposes; the proceeds of such sale to be applied only in the acquisition of other lands, or in the extension of building for hospital or charitable-aid purposes."—Carried. Remit No. 64. Nelson Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. —That it is desirable that some uniform system of leasing trust lands be introduced, similar to the Nelson and Westland Native Reserves Act.—Put and lost on the voices. Remit No. 65. Ashburton and North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board. —Boards, as well as Trustees of separate institutions, should, be empowered to borrow for certain purposes (vide section 32 of 1885 Act and sections 2 and 3, 1907). —Carried. Remits Nos. 66 to 73 and 76 to 77 were discussed, and on remit No. 66 (Patea District Hospital Board. —That section 37 is not considered sufficiently explicit to protect leaseholders from solely contributing towards the contributions assessed, as provision is only made for recovery from owners of half the rates levied for hospital purposes by the local bodies, so that where a separate rate for hospital purposes is not struck by local authorities the leaseholder would be solely liable for the full contribution as paid by local authority out of general funds without the possibility of recovery of any portion by the owner) being put, it was lost on the voices. Motion No. 27. Proposed by Mr.'Chepmell, and seconded by Mr. Fisher (Waikato District Hospital and Charitable Aid Board), " That a special mode of adjustment of rateable values should be laid down in section 37 as between local authorities rating on the annual value and local authorities rating on the capital value." —Carried. Remits 81, 81a, and 81b were discussed, and on remit 81 (North Canterbury Hospital Board. —Clause 39, (1) and (2), referring to appeal: This Board considers that appeal should be made to the Supreme Court, instead of to Commissioners or the Minister) being put, it was lost on the voices. Remit 84. Coromandel Hospital Trusts. —That provision be made for giving an institution power to recover the cost of hospital-maintenance out of the sums due to patients under the AA T orkers'. Compensation for Accidents Act, and also that old-age pensioners' pensions should be attached for the same reason.—Carried. Remits 85 to 89, including 84a and 88a, were discussed, and remit 88 was put : Ashburton and North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board. —Section 74, relating to relief to persons from beyond a Board's district, should be recast on the lines of a suggestion submitted to the InspectorGeneral in October, 1907, somewhat as follows: "Where any person who receives relief at the hands of a Board or the Trustees of a separate institution has not at the time of first receiving such relief therefrom resided for the period of one year in the district within which such Board

2—H. 22a.