D.—l

Larcre additions are being made to the Hamilton automatic telephone exchange building o and the Te Awamutu Post-office building ; smaller additions are being provided at the Epsom, Mount Eden, and Kingsland Post-office buildings (Auckland), and the Kilbirnie building (Wellington), and extensive alterations are being made to the Moray Place Post-office building at Dunedin. ril . _ . Plans arc in preparation for new chief post-office buildings at Cnristcnurcii, Hamilton Invercargill, New Plymouth, and Wangaimi; for post-office buildings at Avondale, Grey Lynn, Kamo, Kerikeri Central, Kumeu, Little River, Mangaweka, Linwood, Milton, Otorohanga, Owaka, Queenstown, St. Albans, Sumner, Taupo, Tauranga, and Te Kuiti; for major additions to the chief post-office buildings at Auckland, Oamaru, and Palmerston North ; and for a large line depot and office building at Wellington. The building programme for 1937—38 includes a number 01 residences tor postmasters, a reflection of the general housing shortage. Mental Hospitals. Avondale. —Renovations and repairs were attended to. Kingseat.—The erection of Villas 4, 5, 6, 19, and 21 and the store building was completed. New boiler-house, butchery and bakery, laundry, and fuel-store are approaching completion. , , . .„ , Tokanui—A new residence for the Medical Superintendent, also Villas 2 and 3, were completed. Alterations were made to old wards to transpose the male and female sections. Alterations and additions were made to the laundry-sortmg room and annexe bathroom. A camp stable was in course of erection. Porirua —Large store is approaching completion ; good progress was made with the new boiler-house. The towers have been strengthened and roofs over wards renewed. Repairs and renovations were made to five villas and other Ngawhatu. —A new villa, No. 6, was erected. Repairs and renovations generally were attended to. . Sunnyside—A new vegetable-house was completed, and a new bakehouse is in course of erection. Extensive additions to the female dining-room were carried out. Templeton. —Villas Nos. 3 and 4 were completed, and a commencement was made with the erection of a new laundry. Seacliff. —Repairs and renovations were attended to. Hohitlha. —A new villa was completed and a new house and garage were built for the clerk Extensive alterations were made to Aorangi and Sefton wards. General maintenance and repairs were dealt with. Health and Hospital Institutions. The sum of £12,500 was paid over during the year on account of the Government's contribution towards the erection of the Obstetric Hospital at Dunedin and provision is made for a further contribution in the current year's estimates Provision is also made for the purchase of additional land and for the erection of a new fifty-bed hospital to replace the present St. Helens Hospital at Christchurch. A new Nurses' Home for St. Helens Hospital at Auckland is also contemplated. A start will be made with the erection of a new hospital for male patients at Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs, and improvements to the water-supply are being attended to. The erection of a new dental clinic on the old Te Aro School site will be proceeded with this year. This building will be a four-stoned structure, and will serve both as a training clinic for dental nurses and as a treatment centre for school-children of Wellington. The contract has been let. Education Buildings. The net expenditure of capital funds on the erection of school buildings, additions and teachers' residences and the purchase of sites amounted to £281,895 for the year. This sum includes £13,012 provided by the Consolidated Fund to meet the cost of works under £200.

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