At this meeting Mr J B Gow , a member of the Bay of Plenty Hospital and Charitable Aid Board , moved that :
... the Deed of Agreement in connection with the use of the Anglican Mission Hospital at Whakatane by this Board , made between the Ven . Archdeacon Herbert Williams , the Diocesan Trust Board and this Board be signed by two members and the seal be affixed thereto .
This was the last meeting of the combined Board and a new election was held in each of the new districts for two separate Boards .
On 16 May 1918 , the new Bay of Plenty Hospital Board met for the first time and elected Alex Peebles as its Chairman . By this time , a cottage hospital had been established in Te Puke and two small hospitals were built , one at Tauranga ( 1914 ) 28 and one at Ōpōtiki ( 1916 ) 29 .
An early approach was made to the Minister of Public Health for the “ Section 24 ” land in Tāneatua that had been set aside as Hospital Reserve to be vested in the new Board but the Minister refused . At the time Tāneatua had a population of about 420 and was growing rapidly due to the large farming population , while the Whakatāne Town Board ’ s population in 1915 was 650 30 . As a result a Hospital Site Selection Committee was established and the search began for a suitable site for a much larger hospital for the district .
Two new sites were identified – one within the Whakatāne Town boundary ( 15 acres of Domain land situated opposite the Church of England site on Domain Road ) and another on the Whakatāne / Tāneatua highway , a piece of farmland known locally as Webster ’ s Hill ( and in more recent times as Silver Hill ). The Committee inspected both sites as well as another site in Whakatāne owned by Thomas Kirk , a Whakatāne Borough Councillor , which was not far from the Māori Mission Hospital on Bridge Street .
In September 1918 , the Secretary of the Hospital Site Selection Committee reported that it had been decided to recommend to the Minister of Hospitals , the site in the township of Whakatāne known as the Domain site and to request him to sanction the transfer of from 10 to 15 acres of the Domain lands for the purpose named . The Chairman of the Whakatāne Domain Board had advised that at a meeting of delegates from all parts of the Whakatāne County it was decided the Hospital should be situated within three miles of the Whakatāne Post Office . He also reported that the Hon GW Russell , Minister of Public Health & Minister in charge of Hospitals had recently visited Whakatāne , was shown likely sites and he favoured the Domain site . Furthermore , the Whakatāne Domain Board was willing to convey to the Hospital Board 15 acres of Domain lands situated opposite the Church of England , for a hospital site . This offer was accepted , subject to the Whakatāne County Council offering no objection .
28
Tauranga Hospital School of Nursing Reunion Committee , Reunion , 1943-1988 , ( Bob Tulloch Reproductions , Tauranga , 1988 ), p1
29
Anon , ( Whakatāne Press , 1922 ) ( Media clippings scrapbook “ Hospital ” , Whakatāne District Museum & Gallery ) p14
30
HD London , “ Whakatāne ’ s Early Newspapers ”, ( Historical Review , Whakātane & District Historical Society , 1983 ) vol . 4 , p 26
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