CONSUMPTION SANATORIUM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15333, 16 June 1910, Page 4

CONSUMPTION SANATORIUM.

SITE AND BUILDINGS UNSUITABLE. DR BLACKMOItE’S CONDEMNATION. “PLACE SHOULD BE ABANDONED.” The members of tho North Canterbury Hospital and Charitablo Aid Board, which met yesterday, listened with what, appeared to bo Iho philosophic calm of resignation to the inevitable, to a statement inado by Mr W. W. Tanner in condemnation of the Consumption Sanatorium conducted by tho Board Mr Tanner, who is chairman of tho Board’s Hospital Committee, said that Dr C. J. Blackmore, the resident medical officer, had remarked to him that the expenditure on the construction of the sanatorium had been unduly heavy, tho expenditure on its maintenance was of a similar character, and the Board should undertake the establishment of a more suitable sanatorium, and devote the present buildings to soma other purpose. Tho sits was unsuitable, Mr Tanner continued, and he believed a bettor one could be found thirty or forty miles inland, on the foothills in the Oxford district or elsewhere. “If wo wore free to give the sanatorium away to someono to fly away with it,” said Air Tanner, “ that would be the best thing wo could do with it, but unless the Board is prepared to borrow £IOO,OOO tor new buildings that cannot be done. 1 should be with you in such a proposal, but 1 know the ratepayers would not agree to it.” Mr Tanner was subsequently interviewed by a “Lyttelton Times” reporter, and amplified the remarks made at the meeting of the Board. “ There is a growing feeling,” ho said, “ that tho selection of iho site for the sanatorium in tho first place was inadvisable. "When Dr Blackmore assumed charge of tho institution he mads a statement that the buildings were unsuitable and the site badly chosen. He recommended that it should ho abandoned and that an entirely new sanatorium should be erected elsewhere, and the present buildings converted into a convalescent home as an annexe to the Hospital .or put to some oilier use.” Tho Hospital Committee, Mr Tanner continued, found that it had succeeded to a difficulty with regard to which no definite policy had yet been laid down. It was beginning to recognise that the cost of maintaining the sanatorium would be out cf all proportion to what had been anticipated, and there was already a deep feeling of disappointment pervading the members of the Board on the subject. One of tl’.o principal objections was tho unsuitability of the sito. Tho hillside was fx> stoop that extensions of tho buildings could bo carried out only at tremendous expanse, for although the area available was large tho portion adapted for building operations was very small. A great deal of difficulty was experienced in providing for natural and domestic drainage. Tho ordinary method cf distributing it over the soil was impracticable, because the passage of sewage and storm water continually loosened tho surface, especially where cuttings had been made, and there was a continual tendency for every part of the surface to become reduced to a common level. An effort had been made to combat this difficulty by the construction of lateral horizontal channels, but the members of the committee wore somewhat. dubious regarding the success of Pus experiment. It was probable that Dr Blackmore would be asked by the Board to submit a written report, elaborating bis scheme for an entirely different system of dealing with consumption cases of all degrees, primary, intermediate ajnd advanced, and tl.iip would then come before the Board for consideration. 1

“ I think it would almost pay the Beard to ‘scrap’ the sanatorium and build another,” remarked Dr Blackmore, when seen by the reporter last evening. Not only had the original cost of the buildings' been very great, ho said, owing to the formation of the rite, but the institution would bo a most expensive one to administer. Instead of being on the same level as the main building, the shelters were scattered about on terraces of different heights. One result of this was that the nursing staff had to be increased in order that adequate attendance on the patients might be assured. The urea of the site was also insufficient. The formation of the soil made it extremely difficult to

keep the grounds in respectable order, and a man was continually employed at tarring the footpaths and the sides of the terraces in order to prevent them being washed away by the surface drainage. • Probably some measures could be taken to remedy this, but only at considerable expense. If a suitable site had been selected, all this would have been avoided. Regarding the buildings and their situation from a remedial point of view, Dr Blackmore said that the air on the hills was perfectly adapted for the alleviation of consumption, but the high winds experienced were detrimental to the treatment. They increased the difficulty cf keeping tho patients in the open air at night, for when the wind was so strong that it blew clothes from tho beds, the occupants of tho shelters had to close their doors, and that was an undesirable condition. A great deal of money had been expended in making the main building architecturally attractive when a smaller amount would have paid for a more commodious and useful structure, though with fewer pretensions to the artistic. He did not desire to condemn the institution entirely, though there were directions in which improvements might have been mado before tho buildings were completed, hut, summed up, .his opinion was that the site, conditions and buildings were only fairly satisfactory.