ANOTHER SITE?

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 23, 27 July 1945, Page 9

ANOTHER SITE?

VICTORIA COLLEGE

NEEDS OF THE FUTURE

The removal of Victoria University College at some future date to a site that could cope with expansion and provide iacilities and amenities in keeping with the status of the Capital City was urged in a letter received by the college council last evening from the Students' Association. It was suggested that a new site might be found in the Adelaide Road area when the City Council's slum clearance proposal was put into effect. On the motion of Mr. •W. V. Dyer, the council decided to set up a committee, to include representatives of the Students' Association, to investigate the proposal.

The letter from the association pointed out on the question of the cost of its proposal that expansion on the present site would be costly in any case. Victoria College was behind the other universities in the Dominion in lay-out and amenities. The call was for bold, long-range planning for better facilities.

Mr. Dyer said - that certain proposals would come before the council from Massey College that would have a very material bearing on consideration of future needs. He asked that his motion should include investigation of any proposals that might come from Massey College, Mr. M. H. Oram said it had seemed to him for a long time that, looking ahead, Victoria College was unsuitable as a residential university college and that steps should be taken to allow it to reach its true status, with ample room for all its facilities and buildings. He agreed that the time had arrived to investigate the position. CITY COUNCIL REACTION. The deputy chairman (Mr. M. F. Luckie) ?aid that he felt the Students' Association, while doubtless inspired by the best of feelings for the future development of the college, had lost sight of the City Council's proposals for both sides of Adelaide Road. One side was very narrow and it was proposed to build flats there. The other side was intended for light industries The whole project went well into the future and a lot of legislation wouldbe needed. The first demand would be for legislation in regard to Te Aro Fiat and generally to meet housing needs, not for such purposes as universities. The expense would be very heavy. "I don't think the present proposal will find any immediate support from the City Council, because it has other matters in view," Mr. Luckie added. "There is no objection whatever to an investigation, but we must not lose sight of the fact that this council might be at cross-purposes with the City Council whose first duty is the housing of the people, which is more pressing than ever before. 11 Mr. I. McDowall (Students' Association) said that the association had made its proposal in all seriousness.. If it was true that Government House might be moved some day, it would be far better to put Victoria College on that site, said Mr. Luckie. The college was cramped now and was likely to be in an even worse position in the future. Mr. F. Combs stressed the necessity of driving home to the imagination and civic consciousness of the people of Wellington that a university college was one of the city's most important institutions. Despite the difficulty of siting, it was one of the first things the civic authorities should think about. '