Ashburton Borough Centenary/Caring

The Ashburton Hospital has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1879, when the County Council decided, on the motion of John Grigg and J. C. Wason, that such a building was desirable in Ashburton and granted £5,000 for this purpose. The site was chosen at the west end of the Domain and it was built by Mr W. Cartion for £5,022/10/-, in brick, one of the most expensive buildings in town at the time. Instruments were ordered from England and gas laid on. Mr and Mrs Maddern were appointed as nurses and Dr. J. E. Trevor was the first surgeon, at £120 p.a. He began his duties on July 1, 1880. Fees in the public ward were £1 a week and £2 a week in the private ward.

It was decided that Borough and County should assume joint control for Charitable Aid in both their areas and the first combined Board sat on April 5, 1882. It comprised the Mayor (D. Williamson), the County Chairman (W. C. Walker) and Messrs St. Hill, Winter and John Lambie. The number of beds increased rapidly from 20 in 1880 to 200 in 1897, and now in May, 1978, number 285, inclusive of Tuarangi and the Maternity Ward. A six-bed convalescent ward was added in 1889 by public subscription in honour of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.

A very generous contribution to the hospital was made by Miss Jane Chalmers, a niece of the brothers John and Peter Chalmers, who had bought land and formed roads in the early days of Ashburton. She became a wealthy woman when she inherited her Uncles’ property, but led a secluded, quiet life on her Beach Road farm. In 1922 she gave £3,000 to the Ashburton Hospital Board to build a women’s ward and £1,000 for an operating theatre. Chalmers Ward commemorates the donor. She also left a large bequest to the hospital when she died.

During the slump in the thirties, the Board was concerned with charitable aid. In 1935, it issued relief rations and payments to almost a thousand people at one stage. Then the era of free treatment began under the Government’s Social Security Scheme and this was given at the Malvern Maternity Home in Cox Street. By 1941, with the popularity of the Social Welfare legislation, the main hospital was overcrowded and, during the Second World War, two blocks of two storeys were added to it. New wards came into use in 1944.

​At this time, the Health Department met half the expenditure, the County contributed £10,000 and the Borough about £600. Now W. T. Lill was the Board Chairman and Doctors J. R. Wells and H. S. Billcliff the Medical Superintendents. Miss Eliza Jane Watt was the Matron and Mr A. Prentice a very efficient Secretary, who later became secertary to the Christchurch Hospital Board in 1940. The Board’s economies bore fruit and it carried the lowest rate of taxation for New Zealand in 1936.

Salaries began to rise in the 1940’s. Miss Watt, the well-loved Matron, retired in 1940, but soon afterwards was appointed Matron-in-Chief to the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

The Health Department insisted on the raising of standards of services provided in private hospitals and these gradually went out of business, including the “Arawa” and “Malvern” maternity hospitals, “Oakhurst,” a private hospital in Burnett Street, and “Warwick,” a private hospital in Oak Grove. Local doctors again tried to secure access to the Public Hospital and the Health Department eventually allowed two surgeons and one physician as visiting staff, which was the usual practice throughout New Zealand.

W. T. Lill was Chairman of the Board in 1926 and again 1929-30. He was very proud of the Hospital’s record and maintained that it was “the best hospital and had the best doctor, the best matron and the best nurses”. We can easily forgive him the boast. Other early Chairmen were: H. Friedlander, 1910–11, 1913-18, H. Davis 1912, Charles Reid 1919-25, and F. W. Watt 1927-29.

In recent years the old building has been remodelled, a new maternity wing opened in May, 1973, and offices have been added. A chapel was opened in July, 1975. It is carrying on its tradition of service to the district magnificently. Mr A. J. Mason was Superintendent for over 30 years from 1933 and is still resident here. The present Superintendent is Dr. L. R. Chapman, and the present Matron, Miss M. Fowke, has held her position since 1966. The present Board Chairman is Gavin S. Marshall.