OBJECT LESSON TO WHAKATANE? P. & T. HOSTEL AT PUTARURU

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 20, 10 February 1948, Page 4

OBJECT LESSON TO WHAKATANE? P. & T. HOSTEL AT PUTARURU

It is not long since the Beacon put forward the suggestion that a hostel for business juniors and possibly unmarried Government Department officers might be an answer to the acute boarding shortage here. In the light of that suggestion, the following report from the Putaruru Press holds more than usual interest:—

Confronted with the difficulty of. obtaining and keeping staff because of the acute shortage and high price of accommodation in Putaruru the P. and T. Department took matters into its own hands and built its own hostel.

The building, which will accommodate eight single officers, was )e----cently completed and six officers are now in residence. It has all modern conveniences, including electric iight, hot water and range, One of the men staying at the' hostel, a postman, is something of a cook, and he is at .present doing all the catering work. His round is completed at about four o’clock in the afternoon and he arrives home in time to prepare tea. This arrangement works very well indeed, and Mr G. C. H. Surry, acting postmaster, who is charge of the hostel, told a Press reporter that without this service, life at the hostel would present a very different picture.

At present food bills are apportioned out amongst the occupants fortnightly’ and although it is a little early to draw conclusions, indications are, that those staying at the hostel will get off very light as far as board is concerned.

As the department subsidises all board over a certain figure, the hostel will in the long run represent a saving, not only to its occupants, but to the department itself.