NEW MENTAL HOSPITAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 458, 13 September 1928, Page 11

NEW MENTAL HOSPITAL

CONSTRUCTION WORK AT KINGSEAT SITE NEAR PUKEKOHE Kingseat is the name given the new mental hospital for Auckland. The new institution, which is on an arm of the Manukau Harbour. 1 about 10 miles from Pukekdhe, has been called after an asylum in Scotland, where Dr. T. Gray, In-spector-General of Mental Hospitals, was trained. >THE Public Works Department is handling building operations on the 650 acres asylum property which forms -the heart of the well-known Puhitahi block. Several buildings have been erected already, and the foundations for the attendants’ quarters are now going down. Farming development is to be a special phase of the institution’s operations, and. because of this, the valuable land chosen for the site will be found especially suitable. When the remaining largo blocks of buildings are erected and the institution is fully ready for use, from 1,000 to 1.200 persons will be accommodated. LARGE WATER SCHEME To meet the requirements of so many people, a separate water scheme has been planned, and 120,000 gallons are to be supplied to the asylum each day. Already, labourers of the Public Works Department have tapped an underground spring near Patumahoe, and a contract for the formation of

six miles of pipe-line to Kingseat is to be let shortly. The undertaking will bo expensive, and hilly country will have to be penetrated by the pipe. Patients from the Auckland Mental Hospital will probably be removed to Kingseat. About 20 are working at the new institution at present, and have been chiefly employed at clearing tea-tree from sections of the land. Access to the new* asylum will be from Papakura, but launch communication up an arm of the Manukau Harbour will probably be used extensively.