MENTAL PATIENTS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1930, Page 11

MENTAL PATIENTS

- NEW HOSPITAL SCHEME. ERECTION OF TWO VILLAS. Following the policy of establishing all new mental institutions in New Zealand on the villa plan, with home-like surroundings, the Public Works Department has prepared plans, and tenders have been called for the erection of two such villas at Kingseat, Puhitahi, about 12 miles from Papakura, Auckland. For some time, a number of patients from the Auckland Mental Hospital . have been employed at Kingseat in preparing the site for the erection of the villas, and cultivating the farm of 650 acres. i The plans for the two villas are part of a larger scheme for further villas, each to accommodate 50 patients. The villas are of two storeys each,, the ground floor accommodation being a large entrance hall, the dining room and two day rooms, one with a sun porch. The attendants’ quarters and the kitchen block are attached. Upstairs, there are three wards with eight single rooms, and a large dressing room space. The building will be of brick, with concrete, covered by a wooden flooring, between the two storeys. The roofs will be of Marseilles tiles. The villas will be heated with a hot water system. Tenders for their erection will close about the end of the month. Referring recently to the villa system of mental hospital construction, Dr. T. G. Gray, Director-General opMental Hospitals, said the outstanding feature was the absence of any large main building, such as is characteristic of tlie present institutions. Each ward is re-' presented by an entirely detached building, which is really a separate institution, being self-contained in the matter of dining, day and sleeping accommodation and associations of its patients. The only factor common to all the villas is the general administration, but each villa usually has its own permanent staff. The greater portion of the farm has already been broken in and top-dressed, and surplus c ream is being supplied to the dairy factory at Paerata. The milking machines are operated by electric power, and the institution now has the appearance of a model dairy farm.