The Governor-General shall from time to time, in addition to the members elected or appointed to the Board under sections 29 to 32 of this Act, appoint as members of the Otago Hospital Board such number of qualified persons, not exceeding five, as may be nominated by the Council of the University of Otago; and the persons so appointed shall hold office as if they had been duly elected in accordance with this Act, notwithstanding that, because of their appointment, the total number of members of the Board may exceed fourteen.

Nothing in section 36 of this Act shall apply to any member of the Otago Hospital Board appointed under this section; but, if any such member vacates his office pursuant to section 34 or section 35 of this Act, the Governor-General shall appoint another person nominated by the aforesaid Council to the vacated office.

Every person appointed as a member of the Otago Hospital Board under this section shall, unless he sooner vacates his office under section 34 or section 35 of this Act, continue in office as a member until the next election of members to the Board.

If any new hospital district, comprising the Otago Hospital District, is constituted under section 17 of this Act, this section shall apply to the Board of the district so constituted in the same manner and to the same extent that it applied to the Otago Hospital Board that existed immediately before the new hospital district was constituted; and the members of the Otago Hospital Board appointed under this section and holding office immediately before the constituting of the new hospital district shall be members of the Board of that district without further appointment and shall, subject to sections 34 and 35 of this Act, remain in office until the first election of members to the Board of the newly constituted district or, if the first election is held before the new district is constituted, until the next such election.”

There is hereby established for the purposes of this Act a committee to be known as the Review Committee.

It shall be the function of the committee to inquire into any complaint relating to the dismissal from employment by a Board of any person under the committee’s jurisdiction, and to report its findings to the Minister.

The committee shall consist of three members appointed by the Minister of whom—.

Every person appointed to be a member of the committee shall hold office at the pleasure of the Minister.

There shall be paid out of money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose to members of the committee remuneration by way of fees, salary, or allowances and travelling allowances and expenses in accordance with the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951 as if the committee were a statutory Board within the meaning of that Act.

Without limiting the general power to make regulations under section 152 of this Act and subject to the provisions of section 51c of this Act, regulations may be made under that section regulating the procedure of the committee.

The Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette, after consultation with any organisation which appears to him to represent the interests of the class or classes concerned, declare such class or classes of employees (including officers) of Boards as may be specified in the notice to be under the jurisdiction of the Review Committee.

The Minister may from time to time vary or revoke any such notice.

Every such notice shall have effect according to its tenor and may be made so as to come into force on a day to be specified in that behalf in the notice, being the date of the notice or any date after the date of the notice.

Where any Board has dismissed or has served a notice purporting to dismiss from its employment any employee under the Review Committee’s jurisdiction (in this section and in section 51d of this Act referred to as the complainant), he may, if he is aggrieved by the dismissal or notice, make a complaint in writing setting out his grievance to the Minister within twenty-eight days from the date of the dismissal or the service of the notice, as the case may be, or within such extended period as the Minister may in any particular case allow.

On receipt of any complaint made in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, the Minister shall refer it to the chairman of the committee who shall convene such meetings of the committee as may be necessary to enable it to inquire into the complaint and report on it to the Minister as provided in subsection (6) of this section.

In carrying out its inquiries into the complaint the committee shall not be bound to follow any formal procedure, but shall observe the rules of natural justice and consider all written submissions made by or on behalf of the complainant and the Board employing or formerly employing him. The committee may, if it thinks fit, also hear oral submissions made by or on behalf of the complainant and the Board and may likewise summon and hear witnesses if it believes the interests of justice will be furthered by so doing.

Every statement made during any such hearing and investigation or in any report submitted to the Minister shall be absolutely privileged for the purposes of the law relating to defamation.

Subject to the provisions of this section and of any regulations made under this Act, the committee may regulate its procedure in such manner as it thinks fit.

After completing its inquiries into the complaint and considering all submissions, representations, and evidence made or given to it, the committee shall prepare a report of its findings and submit it to the Minister for his consideration. The report may include such recommendations regarding the employment of the complainant as the committee thinks fit, but in any event shall state whether or not the committee considers the complaint to be justified.

For the purposes of this section the report of the majority of the members of the committee shall be the report of the committee; but any member who disagrees with the majority may, if he so desires, submit a minority report to the Minister through the chairman.

When submitting its report to the Minister pursuant to subsection (6) of this section, the committee shall supply a copy of the report (together with any minority report) to the complainant and to the Board concerned.

The Minister shall consider the report as soon as practicable after receiving it, and may then, if he thinks fit, give such direction or advice to the Board as he considers appropriate.

Nothing in this section shall prevent a Board from withdrawing a dismissal notice at any time.

Neither the fact that a complaint has been made under section 51c of this Act, nor the fact that inquiries into any such complaint have not been completed, shall affect the dismissal of the complainant or any notice purporting to dismiss him from his employment; but, notwithstanding anything in section 51 of this Act, if the Board reengages the complainant in accordance with any direction or advice given to it by the Minister under section 51c of this Act, the re-engagement shall be on the same terms and conditions as those subsisting immediately before the dismissal or expiration of the notice, as the case may be.

The rights conferred on a complainant by section 51c of this Act in relation to the termination of his employment by a Board shall be in addition to any other legal remedy he may have against the Board.”

In this section “treatment” includes maintenance and every other kind of service or aid.

Notwithstanding anything in section 77 of this Act, where a person is provided by a Board with any treatment, whether before or after the commencement of this section, in respect of which he is not entitled to a benefit under Part II of the Social Security Act 1964 or any regulations made under section 116 of that Act, the cost of the treatment shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Board.”

The following persons shall be liable to pay any such debt:

Where any liability is imposed by this section on two or more persons in respect of the treatment of the same person, the liability of the first-mentioned persons shall be joint and several; and every person paying money in discharge of that liability shall be entitled to recover from any other person so liable such sum by way of contribution or indemnity as the Court considers just and reasonable in the circumstances of the case.

On the death or bankruptcy of any person who owes a debt arising under this section, the debt, so far as it has accrued at the time of the death or at the commencement of the bankruptcy (but, in the case of bankruptcy, no further) shall be recoverable from his estate or provable in his bankruptcy, as the case may be.

Nothing in this section shall negative the liability of any person under an agreement made by him in respect of treatment provided for him or for any other person or under any order of a Court.

Every debt created by this section shall accrue from day to day.

For the purposes of this section, the cost of providing any person with treatment shall be such sum as may be agreed between a person liable under this section and the Board providing the treatment or, in default of any such agreement, such sum as the Court considers just and reasonable in the circumstances of the case.

Where a Board applies money in payment of the funeral expenses of any deceased person, the amount of that money shall be recoverable in the same way as the cost of providing treatment; and nothing in subsection (5) of this section shall prevent the Board from recovering that amount from the estate of the deceased person under subsection (2) of section 150 of this Act or under any other enactment or rule of law.

Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to create a debt in respect of the provision of aid to any person pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of section 93 of this Act; but, subject to any regulations made or directions given by the Minister under this Act or under the Social Security Act 1964 to the contrary, a Board may, as a condition of providing any such aid (not being money), impose on the person receiving the aid a charge not exceeding the cost to the Board of providing the aid:

“Provided that the Board may in its discretion waive any such charge either in whole or in part.”

Liability for cost of treatment.”

The institution known as Tuarangi Home in the Ashburton Hospital District is hereby declared to be vested in and to be under the control and management of the Ashburton Hospital Board.

Section 22 of this Act (except subsection (1)) shall, so far as it is applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply to the Tuarangi Home as if it were an institution which had been vested by an Order in Council made under subsection (1) of the said section 22 and as if this section were an Order in Council made under that section. For the purposes of the application of the said section 22, the North Canterbury Hospital Board shall be deemed to be the former Board and the Ashburton Hospital Board shall be deemed to be the new Board.

The North Canterbury Hospital Board shall pay to the Ashburton Hospital Board—

Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, nothing shall affect the property and income comprised in the said trust or the provisions of the Stephen Cole Moule Trustees Empowering Act 1904.”