LOCAL BODIES AND THEIR WORKS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3414, 4 January 1912, Page 7

LOCAL BODIES AND THEIR WORKS.

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE AID.

ERECTION OF A NEW HOSPITAL.

A DECIDEDLY COOD STEP.

(No. 4.) Touching on the work of the Cook Hospital and Charitable Aid Board during last year, Mr. Charles Gray, the chairman of that body, when in conversation with a “Gisborne Times” reporter yesterday, said that the decision to proceed with the erection of a new hospital must undoubtedly be looked upon as the chief work of the year. The election of the Board, he said, took place in March 1909, in terms of the new Act. It had even then been clear for some time that the present hospital was not large enough for the requirements of the district. Not only were all the beds in the wards occupied but the number of patients admitted so overcrowded the accommodation that additional beds were brought into use on the verandahs and in the alleyways. Proceeding, Mr. Gray said that Dr. Valentine, Chief Health Officer, had visited the district soon after the election of the new Board, and strongly recommended the Board to find a new site, and build a new hospital. He also counselled them to avoid making additions to the old hospital, providing of course, that the patients could be accommodated without such, up to the time of the opening of the new building. Inview of this the Board decided that the new hospital should be proceeded with, said Mr. Gray, and the first step taken was the appointment of a Building Committee, which, together with Hr. Valentine, examined two proposed sites, and recommended the Board to procure about 30 acres owned by Mr. McCliskie and Mrs Clayton.

Some 21 acres of this land was eventually bought at £IOO per acre, and a further 12 acres was purchased at £BO per acre. An additional area has since then been secured bringing the total up to 41 acres. This may seem to be a larger area than is required, Mr. Gray pointed out, but such was not the case as, owing to the formation of the ground, it _ was necessary to take in the additional acreage in order to provide sufficient land to build upon. . The new hospital which it was decid--ed to erect on" this ground is to have four principal wards, a children’s ward, and a corridor. A nurse’s home is also to be erected, and all necessary arrangements were made for a wellequipped and up-to-date hospital, containing about 120 beds. The site on which it is to be erected is a remarkably good one with a splendid view all round, being at a height of about 150 feet. The buildincr will, according to the contract place, cost £4700, and the contractors have two years m which to complete its erection. . In order to provide for the admission of children under the age of five years, a small ward containing about live beds was joined on to the old hospital during last year. In the course of erection, at the present time, is another ward which will contain four beds. The latter is being built specially to be removed and taken to the site of the new hospital, where it could be used as a ward for consumptives. Both additions are movable, and the children’s ward will probably be removed when the new hospital is completed. Under the Act passed last year, said Mr. Gray, the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is the board of health in the district. It would take over the infectious diseases inspection, and also the sanitary inspection where such was not carried out by the Borough or County Councils. The Board had appointed a duly qualified inspector, who will have full power to act, and to see that all possible precaution is used for the prevention of disease, more especially with regard to typhoid among the Maoris. The Government had also appointed a nurse, and there was already a district medical officer subsidised by the Government. _. “It is hoped,” concluded Mr. Gray, “that this will prevent the great amount of typhoid which exists at present among the Maoris.”