HOSPITAL SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22412, 7 May 1936, Page 12

HOSPITAL SCHEME

SITE AT NORTHCOTE ENDOWMENT PROPERTY POPULATION OF DISTRICT THE QUESTION OF ACCESS The Auckland Hospital Board'g endowment property of some 80 acres at Northcote, of which much was said on Tuesday, when the board decided to build an auxiliary hospital at North Shore, is a long tract of hilly and broken land on the west side of the main road from Northcote to Takapuna, and bounded on the north and south by Raleigh Road and Onewa Road respectively. The site of the Northcote infant school, on the corner of Onewa Road, was originally part of tho endowment.

A tidal ercok filled with mangroves and raupo, and extending into Shoal Bay, divides the property in two. This creek is spanned by a wooden one-car bridge on the main road to Takapuna. Tho half-mile of this road skirting the endowment is steep and rather tortuous on both sides of tho bridge, and has been the scene of a good many motor accidents, Nature of Property Most of the property is too broken to bo usable for building purposes, but there is a high terrace at the northern end, fronting Raleigh Road and almost level with the ridge, on which a site of 12 to 14 acres could be provided for a hospital. It is understood that some of the land has been leased by the board, but that possession could be recovered if necessary. Other parts of the endowment are in pasture, including a sloping paddock of four or five acres fronting Onewa Road, but a large area is under manuka, gorse and pine trees. The suggested site is elevated, with a fairly wide view of the harbour, but access from Northcote at present is over tho half-mile of difficult road already mentioned. Tho distance to Birkenhead by way of Raleigh Road is about a mile and a-quarter, to Hall's Corner, Takapuna, two and a-half miles, and to Devonport about six miles. Question of Bridge

It is worthy of note that according to the latest census figures, the boroughs of Northcote and Birkenhead, which lie to the south and west of the site, have a combined population of 5762, whereas Takapuna and Devonport, which are separated from it by a thickly-settled area nearly two miles wide, have 17,133 people, or almost exactly three times as many.

The site is well placed for access from Birkdale and Albany, through Birkenhead. The distance from the northern coastal road at Milford is nearly three miles. The choice of a location for the hospital would probably be much influenced by the harbour bridge scheme, if the latter should be realised at an early date. The erection of the bridge undoubtedly would cause the local bodies to improve the road between Northcote and Takapuna. It would also reduce the time taken in conveying patients from Birkenhead, Northcote and most of Takapuna to the Auckland Hospital,