SEA VIEW MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 May 1921, Page 2

SEA VIEW MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Dr 11. M. Buchanan, the Superintendent of the Sea View Mental Hospital, since taking charge of the local institu- | tion has done excellent work in and about the institution, reorganising l buildings and grounds on more modern lines. A very fine improvement lias been made in extending and improving the main ground for the men’s daily promenade and exorcise. The considerable area in front of the old gaol quarters has beeil taken in, and the fencing so arranged that the inmates j while enjoying the more extended area f for exercising, can get a better outlook, including a view of the road and railway line below, where passing traffic may be observed to interest them .

Other improvements are in hand also, and it is intended likewise to reorganise the public approach so that there will be a more open and brighter drive approach. The grounds generally are being overhauled as time serves, and the howling green has been relaid and im-

proved. One of the most urgent requirements about the institution is the improvement to the buildings, many of which are old, and are in a state of decay de*manding the renewal which has been so long contemplated, but so slow in materialising. One cause is said to be the want of artisans for the building work. This is being organised now, but carpenters are required to facilitate the work which has been for far too long in abeyance.

Both in the female and male quarters attention to the buildings is a necessary matter. There are now some 260 patients at the institution, and naturally so many people cause a great deal of domestic work. Some of the facilities for carrying on the domestic duties, are primitive in the extreme, being a survival of what sufficed in the early days when the institution was much smaller. The various quarters need rebuilding and modernising. There is the necessity also to introduce more mechanical means for performing much of the laborious work which now has to be done by hand. In the laundry, for instance, a complete reformation is most desirable. the whole department requiring to be totally transformed. Some of the quarters for special patients need also to be modernised, and altogether there is much work requiring attention. Seeino- that the institution is an important one, and lias special claims on our humanity, the present necessity for attention should have the fullest support from the Government. We should say that there is not a more important matter in the whole district demanding

attention at the present moment, and the authorities will be shirking responsibility if the reforms now begun are not carried on quickly and the institution put in that proper condition which its uses require for the betterment of the unfortunate inmates.