 He therefore came up with the proposal to set up a new building, and also to install electricity, but unfortunately both proposals were refused by the authorities.But Malling-Hansen made sure to take into use all possible areas of the school, and he made improvements and enlarged the outside garden, and all children regularly worked with gardening, the girls more than the boys, as things were in those days.In Malling-Hansen's time as principal, the death rate sunk drastically among the children, and in the last periods of his time the death rate was lower than in the similar population of hearing children.