£2,000,000 SCHEME

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1927, Page 12

£2,000,000 SCHEME

CARE OF MENTAL CASES. GARDEN CITY NEAR LONDON. London, Aug. 24. Plans for a great garden'city for mental defectives on a beautiful estate on the outskirts of London are at present engaging the attention of the Middlesex County Council and the Ministry of Health. The council has bought nearly two square miles of land, comprising the Porter’s Park estate and the c’isused Shenley aerodrome between Barnet and St. Albans. When the proposals have been sanctioned they will proceed with a £2,000,000 scheme that will give them by far the finest and most up-to-date mental institution in the world. Two separate establishments are planned alongside each other—a hospital for normal mental patients who may recover under treatment, ami a colony for certified patients. Some idea of the magnitude of the scheme may be gained from the fact that the garden city will comprise over 100 buildings, and will house a population of 5000-4000 patents and 1000 staff. The present mansion home, once the home of Admiral Lord Howe, is to be used as a home for paying female patients, and all the numerous existing buildings on the estate rill be adapted to the work c’ the institution. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. Gardens and farm lands will be Worked by the patients for the benefit of the township, all the buildings of which will be designed to give the maximum of light, air, and open space. Villas and cottages will be scattered throughout the grounds, where parties of from 30 to 60 patients can be hous-

cd and treated together in an almost homelike atmosphere. The plans for this gigantic scheme include the erection of: — A reception hospital where every patient will be examined on arrival. Block of administrative offices. Laboratory with the most up-to-date equipment in the world. Two churches, one to seat 800. An assembly hall for 1000 people, with a stage for concerts and kinetna. Gymnasium. Home for 200 nurses. Hospitals for infectious cases. Infirmaries for aged patients. Cottages, playing fields, school, and recreation hall for children. " Laundries and bakeries. Workshops, where patients will engage in various trades. Houses for doctors and cottages and villas for other members >.f the staff. A water tower, 130 feet high, which will dominate the whole township. THREE YEARS’ WORK. Of the total area of 1167 acres bought by the County Council at a coat of £BO,OOO, 667 will be utilised in the laying-out of the garden city; the remainder, occupied by a farm and the Porter’s Park Golf Club, cannot bo touched till leases of from eight to nine years have expired. Tire task of construction is expected to occupy fully three years, and will gi.e employment to thousands. An official of the council said to a Daily Chronicle representative: “The scheme is absolutely neceseaary. At present the council cannot accommodate its mental patients. Existing institutions are full, and caaea. have to be farmed out all over the country. The institution will be easily the finest of its kind in the world, and the inoat skilled medical knowledge, the beat treatment, and the latest methods and equipment will be available.