Women Students' Hostel.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 10, 7 October 1907, Page 3

Women Students' Hostel.

For. some weoks past the conimitteo of ladies appointed to arrange for the building of' a liostel for tho .women students who i attend tho Wellington College' and ,Victoria Gollege have been discussing ways and. means and sites and plane. Now things aro so far in train that tlioy have been .ablo , ; to appoint October 14 as the day, on which the first pile of the new building is to be driven, a ceremony which-his Excellency'.the- Governor ,has consented to perform. These'two'' colleges draw their students from a very widespread district. Taranaki, Hawko's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, and Grey, and the result is that tho greater proportion' come to Wellington as strangers. Fifty-five of tho girl; students at Victoria College, forty-eight of. whom :aro also taking the course at the .Wellington Training College for Teachers,-live in lodgings, and so far nothing lias boon done by tho authorities' in the way of seeing that those lodgings are suitable. The' girls who come to Wellington from the other districts aro of scarcely more than schoolgirl age. v Tlioy como from their own homes or from the discipline ; of boarding-school often to be thrown entirely on their own resources, and in' the, great majority of cases to livo with strangers, it is no easy matter to find- suitable', lodgings in. Wellington at any time, and-when one considers that' a woman ■ student should live' fairly near Victoria College both to economise' time, and to bo ''ablo to attend the evening lectures more conveniently; that she should have sonic quiet place at'her lodgings where she may study, and that she should bo able'to got her meals at the irregular hours rendered necessary by the timetable, it will be realised that sho has difficulty in finding a suitable -homo at tho price she can afford to pay. .' Of many of-the women students in Wellington are happily placed in homes that aro almost like their own, and these do not havo to bo considered. But the majority aro not so fortunato, and wo are told that last year many of tho students had to change their address at least once if not two or threo times. Wellington has a very unsettled population, unci often enough the student lias to shift to suit tho convenience of tho landlady. She is moving, or there is, perhaps, illness in- the. family; any ono of a dozen reasons may make it necessary for the student to imove on just when she is in the middle of working for her ex-! animations, and nothing could be more unsettling to her work. It is no wonder that many an enquiry reaches tho Principal of the Training College from parents anxious to know whether lliero • is not- some established home where thoir daughters can reside. In his last annual report be says:—"One of the most serious problems confronting many of our students relates to the matter of board and lodging. !t is almost as important that the 'domestic' life of tho student should bo properly safeguarded and adequately provided for, as that ho should receive suitable instruction and guidance in his studies during college hours; and it is only when tho 'homo' surroundings aro conducivo to habits of study and to congenial social intercourse that wo may oxpect our Colleges to- produce the best results. Many students' have tho utmost difficulty in scouring lodgings that can.'in any way bo regarded

us suitable; and not a few wero obliged to chango lodgings moro than' onco during the session. When it is further borno in mind that about twothirds of our' students aro 'obliged to livo away from home, tho pressing nature of this probloin will bo seen. It is to bo hoped that the offorts made by tho committed of ladies recently sot up in Wellington for tho.purpose of establishing a hostel for students may soon bo crowned with success, and that before long tho benofits of, a well-conducted and carefully supervised Collego Homo will bo available for our students. Tho hostel is to be ready in February to receive students who come down that month to attend the Training College, and it has been stipulated that it shall be opened free of debt, and . furnished. ' Towards tho furnishing fund the public aro now being asked to subscribe. This is quite in accordance with custom, for it is on.public generosity that committees in other placcs havo had to dopend when they set about establishing hostels for girl students, and tho public havo always recognised tho obligation. In Edinburgh there aro threo hostels, the Masson, tho Muir, 'and tho Credulius, all so established, and in Melbourne the Trinity Hostel owes its existenco to the generosity oft Janet, Lady Clarke. It is to be -hoped that tho Wellington public will respond to the appeal now made, realising that tho women students of these colleges will be the teachers of the immediate futuro, and that it is for 'the good of tho public that they should go through their course under the best possiGle conditions. There is no question of undue luxury. Tho committee aim at providing tho forty studonts whom tho •hostel will accommodate with a comfortable home, suitable food, and; quiet, and to this, they feel, overyl student has a right. Will tho public help?