HEARTH AND HOME.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18417, 25 June 1925, Page 5

HEARTH AND HOME.

HOSPITAL BUILDING.

AN EXTENSIVE PROGRAMME,

The North Canterbury Hospital Board now proposes to expend a considerable sum on building throughout its district.

The Finance Committee reported yesterday that plans were received and considered for the following works, and the Board was recommended to approve them, and apply for the consent of the -Minister for. permission for the work to be carried out. An extra storey en the administration block to provide accommodation for liic dental department, thus leaving the present dental accommodation for the extension of the bacteriological department. The extra storey will give about forty beds for temporary accommodation for nurses [lending the erection of the Nurses' Home. This accommodation is urgently needed, as the Board's decision to give one day's holiday per week to nurses cannot be given effect to; and also a proposal is made that the new storey on Ward X. should be erected at an early date, and extra nurses, of course 1 , will have to be added to the staff should the Board agree Lo this proposal. Estimated cost IESOOO. Chatham Islands Hospital.—ln this case the architect proposes that the bet tor coarse will be to have the work carried out by a competent man on a commission basis. Estimated cost £ 5000.

Extension to 'Waikari Hospital, in accordance wit hthc promise made about two vears ago. Estimated cost abouc £OOO.

Open-Air Home.—Accommodation for sickness, £SOO.

Alterations to Hospital kitchen, with extra equipment, so as to create a diet kitchen. Cost about £SS3.

Alterations to give greater facilities iu the out-patients' department for the treatment of venereal diseases, £38;"!. Authority was asked for permission to have plans prepared for extra accommodation for nurses at Akaroa, and for the erection and equipment of a new laundry at Tuarangi.

With regard to the Hospital chapel, the first proposal as regards to site—between Wards VI. and Vll.—was not approved by the Department of Health. The Board was now asked to approve the location of the building to the south side of the covered-way between Ward IX. and the isolation block. The report was adopted. N.Z. TIMBERS. QUESTION OF THE FUTURE.

Tiie question of supply and demand in the building trade is becoming a moro serious problem every day, and it has even been suggested that in tho course of tho next 50 years, New Zealaud will be compelled to drop out of tho market altogether, on account of tho want of suitable timber for milling purposes. Whether this bo so, or not, the fact remains that, although a considerable quantity of foreign timbers are already being introduced into the Dominion, builders arc finding it a u'uficult proposition to obtain the class of New- Zealand timber they require. With this problem in view, and with the idea of assuring a regular and uniform supply to town and country builders, the Butler Timber Company has opened up the most modern milling plant in the Southern Hemisphere. The yard alone comprises 9J acres in Mandeville street, Hiccarton, and the network of lines connecting up with the railway siding is suggestive of the ability to supply large quantities in quick time to any distance. There are at present close on 200 stacks iof every conceivable! class of timber, and a huge travelling crane is being constructed in order to facilitate the loading and unloading of trucks. In the mill itself, the machinery and plant arc entirely driven by high power electric motors—the current being supplied by the ltiecarton Borough Council Electrical Department—and the saws and planing mills are equipped with the latest wood-working machinery, which introduces a novel feature of giving a superior finish to all dressed lines.

All buildings on the premises have, been painted inside and outside with "carbolineum," and the advice of the State Forest Service has been followed in order to secure the storage and seasoning of timber under absolutely saniary conditions.