NURSES' HOME.

TENDER FOR £54,990 ACCEPTED. WORK TO BEGIN SHORTLY. After about eight yeais of negotiation the new Nurses' , Home for. the Christchurch Hospital is now likely to take shape on the' site set apart for it next the Hospital along Ricearton road, for, at'yesterday's meeting of the Hospital Board, the tended of J. W. fjeanland and Sons, for £54,990, for the erection of the building was accepted. r * •■, "That's a reliof," remarked the chairman (Mr H. J. Otley). "Every member who has been "on this Board for any. length of time must be pleased that we are about to do something." fleplying to a question, Mr Otley said, that he presumed the contractors hoiid begin work ixnmediatel y after the There were nine other tenderers. , Wans for Eight Storeys. ■... The! building as it will finally stand to meet .the needs, of a hospital of. six or seven, hundred beds (there are between three and four hundred now) will bo of eight ■ storeys, but the contract let will, provide for three of those storeys and-a basement. The frontage .on.to.Eiccarton road will beabout 160 feet. About; 116 bedrooms will be built at present. On the first floor there wilt be. the sisters \ bedrooms, sitting-rooms," as well as the matron's and submatron's quarters. To be built of reinforced concrete on a steel: frame, the building will be of a utilitarian rather than of an ornate design. As finally constructed, the home will cost about £IOO,OOO. Mr J. W. Beanland was congratulated on being the successful tenderer at th«s luncheon to Hospital Board members and staff given by Mr Otley at the Boyal Hotel yesterday, when the health of the architects, Messrs Collins and Wost, was also drunk. Mr Beanland said that they 1 could rely on getting a good job.