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248
the complex situation of the relationships between the various members
of the Board in a much broader context than a mere petty feud arising
from professional jealousy b et\oeen Bedford and Hal l. The quarrelling ,
in fact, was a part of the teething problems of the New Colonial Society
in \'lhich the old estab lished forms and agents of the Government \'/ere
reluctant to give \-Jay to new and more progressive elements.
Rising
quickly to his own and Hal l's defence, he attempted to define the position
on these terms and to bri.ng some rationality to the dispute. In a letter
to the Mercury on July 27, Crowther pointed out that the Board \'/as in
heathen darkness as to what its powers \'/ere, or \'/ere likely to be. In
spite of this , the affairs of the institution were conducted \'lith great
care and economy; considering that a memb er of the Board \'las one of those
who had pub licly expressed in Parliament their oppos ition to the
maagement of pub lic charities by Boards , it was a surprise that so much
\oJas achieved \'lith so little interruption .
I deprecate personal squabbling but I as equally deprecate a
spirit \'lhich construes every suggestion made for the benefit
of the ch ildren into dictation ·and every remark not in
harmony \'lith its own view of things into a 'casus belli ' .
Crowther stressed that the Boards of Management were no sooner created
than they were accused of extravagance, irresponsibility and mismanagement .
The Hospital Board had done well because it \'>'as composed of plain business
men, a selection from the official element having been carefu lly avoided ;
also, it did not contain a single individual knO\'>'n to be hostile to the
new order of things .
In fact, Boards were created against the inclination
and \dshes of the majority of the Executive, and due care had been taken
to give them no definite organization.
Thus , it \'>'as hardly fair to accuse
them of the want of that responsibility \'>'hich had never been defined.
CrO\'>'ther accused the MeruTy of censuring the Board overmuch and of not
placing the matter in the right light before the Public.
Claiming that
his own part in the meeting of July 23 had been completely misconstrued,
he firmly stated his own position and his insistence on the right as a
memb er of the Board to visit the sick in hospital
.... let me say \'>'i th all deference to the majority who
carried the resolution barring this right, and substituting
the consent of Dr Benson in its stead, that a more effective
course could not have been adopted to prevent improvement in
every department of the estab lishment and which must tend to
consummate a retrograde condition of things . 20
20
Mer cur::, July 30, 1861 .