ALL BUT READY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1368, 20 February 1912, Page 2

ALL BUT READY.

NEW CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

OPE N1 Nti NEXT MONTH,

The new Children's Hospital in Wol-, linglnn will very shortly be compk'ted. The building, which was commenced last year, needs little more than furniture to make it ready for (he reception of patients, and is to be formally opened next month by his Excellency the Governor.

As one approaches it by the main walk, I which runs through the grounds of the. General Hospital, the Children's Hospital is no! a very imposing slriichivp. On tho. wesU-ni side, which comes first into view, a long verandah of no great height, is flanked at one end by a somewhat dumpy turret and at the other by the projecting structure- and windows' of a sun-room, lied roolhig-tilcs and white rough-casting lii (he walls add to the appearance of the building, hut its western face gives hardly a hint of its roomy interior ur of the measure of architectural beauty which it is seen to possess when viewed from the proper quarter. It is necessary to make a ■circuit of the building to realise its roomy proportions. Tho southern face is extensive, and presents a veritable wilderness of corners and angles, duo no doubt to a desire on the part uf the designers of the • building to present as : inueli of it as possible to the rays of the sun. It is only on the northern side ■that the hospital presents a really handsome cxltfi'ior. Here the main building is set back to give room for a spacious playing court, which is flanked on either side by wards, one-story high, terminating at the outer extreinilies in sun-rooms, where children may play in wet "or inclement weather. The main block, standing at the back of the court, is two stories high. In the centre is a towev, of simple but effective design. Hanked on cither hand by airy galleries fronting the upper flour. The court is closed in at the front by a white rough-cast wall,, a few feet high, surmounted by a fence uf brown jiirrah. Gates of the same timber afl'ord means of ingress or egress. The building is now to all intents and purposes completed, and was formally taken over from the contractors by the Hospital Board on February M. Painters are still at work applying finishing touches, and.' .to judge by appearances, some days will be spent in cleaning out the building and preparing it for the reception of furniture. Most of the furniture for the wards and other aparlinenls is to be of local nr.inufacf.ure. The formal epeniug ceremony is to. be performed on March 13 by his Excellency the Governor. In .popular parlance, the. new buildiug is still-designated tho Children's Hospital, and it seems likely that this mime will endure. The official title, however, is

"Tin , . King Edward VII-Memorial Hospital." As long ago as December 13, 11)10,' the Inspector-General, of HoMiitals, in a letter to (he secretary of the Hospital Board, notified him that an ollicial communication Intel been received from the Secretary of State, intimating that King Cioorge had approved the title, named for the children's hospital to bo , erected by the board.

Anyone visitine the hospital at the present time will notice some large spaces, on the walls of the ward*, v.h'cli have been left unplastorod. These spaues aiv to bo temporarily papered over, but eventually, they will be filled by pictures in Royal Doulton ware, illustrating various nur&ery rhymes and storiw. The eyes of the little ones who come to the hospital to bo cured of ailnients, will be cheered by tho -sifjht of pictuvi'?, , beautifully tinted iviiil finished, of such favourites of old standing as .."Sintplo". Simon," . "Little Boy Bhia," -"Kins Cole," "Mother Ilubbard," and

"Tho Old Woman who Lived in ii Shoe." ■The idea of decorating the ward walls in this way is a very pretty one, and its adoption lioro is a pioneer move, so far as Australasia is concerned. Something of the kind, however, has been done in the Prince Alfred Hospital at Sydney, where a number of local artists painted n series of nursery-story panels on proof-canvas. These were afterwards mounted on the walls of Hie children's ward at the Prince Alfred .Hospital'; .and'-varnished over,--st>-tliat they might be readily cleaned. So placed, they have since delighted and cheered many a little sufferer. To produce the pictures in Doulton ware is, of course, a more ambitious and a more cost-, ly undertaking, but in this medium they will be of u more permanent character, and will bs altogether more suitnblo for hospital.adornment. Twenty-two panels in all have been ordered, and they will be distributed eventually over the walls of four wards. Fourteen of the panels are to bo five feet high by two feet six inches wide, and eight of them will measure five feat by two. The first pictures fo be completed are expected to arrive in April iioxi. They are being obtained through Mr. F. Holmes, of Wellington, and are to be .produced at tho Royal 'Doultou Potteries in London. • The artist employed in designing the panels is Miss Thompson, who enjoys a high reputation for work of this kind.

The principles observed in designing the new hospital and the lending features of tlio design have hpcn nreviously noted and tlpsciibcil in The Dominion. The building; will have a capacity for 75 patients. At present the General Hospital only has cols for twenty-four children, and only half the cots are tenanted. Since the old Children's Hospital was demolished to make room for its successor, sick children have been admitted 1o the General Hospital only in coses of urgency. , ■ The matter of choosing names for the wards in tlio now hospital is to come before the board when it meets to-day. A report on the subject is to be made by a sub-committee.