A DISTRICT HOSPITAL : ITS CONSTRUCTION AND COST. 115 



the water-tank, and a water-service therefrom over the building ; 

 having moreover a suitable arrangement to dispose of the slop- 

 water by irrigation ; was built for £1,478, to which however, 

 Architect's commission must be added. Farther, had the full 

 •original design been carried out, it would then have held 17 beds, 

 and the cost would not have reached £300 more, or, say £1,750 

 The building as it stands is satisfactory. It has, indeed, been so 

 highly approved by all who have visited it, that I have already 

 had applications for details from other colonies. On examining it 

 however, I perceive that some of the measurements of the 

 administrative block are rather small. I have therefore re-drawn 

 the plan, so that while the ward measurements and general 

 arrangement of the building remain exactly the same, the 

 dimensions of the administrative block are suitably enlarged. 

 Moreover, by adopting a slightly different manner of lighting the 

 smaller wards I have contrived to put five beds in the space 

 occupied by four at Kiama, while the full -sized ward holds ten, 

 instead of eight as originally projected. In every other respect 

 the amended plan is exactly the same as that of the actually 

 existing building ; and the cost of carrying it out, reckoned as at 

 Kiama and in the same state of the market (which was not 

 exceptional) — and subject of course to any special difficulty and 

 cost of foundations which some sites may involve, would be, for 

 21 beds £2,000, or for 11 beds £1,700. I will now ask you to 

 regard the amended plan, (Fig. 5.) while I point out some of its 

 special features ; bearing in mind that the description applies 

 •equally to the existing hospital at Kiama in so far as the latter 

 has been carried. 



Site. — If the adjacent ground is higher than the hospital reserve 

 and slopes towards it, such intercepting drains must be cut as will 

 restrain surface water from flowing on to or near the building 

 area. In addition, it will sometimes be found necessary to under 

 drain the latter and a space around it ; and this may be done by 

 setting drain-tiles four feet below the surface, and in lines at such 

 distances apart as the nature of the soil may require. Neither of 

 these precautions was necessary at Kiama. The natural surface 

 should be carefully cleared, and excavated six inches deep. It 

 should be covered with a layer of coal-ash and a proportion of tar. 

 Around all outside walls a space of four feet or more should be 

 tar-paved, and carefully graded to a fall away from the building ; 

 the tar-paving had best extend to the whole of the court-yard 

 between the two blocks, where it would fall to gullies in the 

 middle line. 



Construction.- — This has already been described. The walls 

 •consist of a double skin of corrugated iron ; and at Kiama the 

 •ceilings are of sheet iron. The appearance of the wards and rooms 



