THE GIRLS’ HOSTEL.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1921, Page 4

THE GIRLS’ HOSTEL.

STATEMENT BY THE ADVISORY BOARD. We are asked to publish the following statement by the Advisory Board of the Clarke Memorial Hostel:— The question of the proposed purqhase of Chatsworth House by the Y.W.C.A. as a hostel for women and girls, and as a memorial to the late Mr. James Clarke, has aroused some public' interest, and we feel now that the Association has agreed to the purchase it would facilitate a clear understanding if we were to set out the posi-i tion in some detail.

The Advisory Board was originally formed at the instance of the late Mayor to help and advise the ladies of the community in establishing the hos-« tel. Just before the tragic death of the Mayor, Mrs. Clarke resigned the direc*, tion of the movement, and Mrs. Walker was waited upon and yielded to the earnest solicitation of the members of

the ladies’ committee to assume At that time there had been chiefly by various public a sum of about £3OO. It was felt M the Men’s Advisory Board that e 4 least £3OOO should be in hand befdrfl a building was purchased or erected* On the death of Mr. Clarke, his friends on the committee suggested that as M and his wife had initialed the movement the proposed hostel should take, the form of a memorial to the late Mr, Clarke, and the suggestion was agreed, to by the ladies’ committee. The Advisory Board carefully examined each building offered. It was their; unanimous judgment that ChatswortH House offered the best value and waa the most suitable. The owner offered; the committee the place at a low price and on very liberal terms of payment! The price was £7OOO, including thd furniture, cutlery, linen,\ fittings, The Board ascertained what it considered a conservative estimate o£l the present value of the building) ‘ at from £4BOO to £5OOO. The land is valued by the Government at £lOOO, and the members of th® Board valued the furniture fittings at £2OOO, a total of £BOOO. Therefore they considered the place as a going concern was well worth the £7000! asked. The owner’s terms were: £2300f by April 1, 1922, and an additional £2OO by April 1, 1923, the balance of £4500 being left on mortgage for 10 years at 6 per cent. The Advisory Board unanimously agreed that the only practical alternative to the purchase of Chatsworth was building in brick or concrete. The cost was found to be very heavy and quite beyond the means of the committee to finance, whereas the owner of Chatsworth practically offered to finance the property on behalf of the committee. The Advisory Board were sensible of the Chatsworth would be as a boarding house to the town, and in bringing down their recommendations to the ladies’ committee in favor ofl the purchase of Chatsworth, strongly urged them to make provision for the same number of casuals as was the case now. This the committee resolved to do. , The Board, in favoring Chatsworth, \ had regard for its comparative cheapness, its permanence, and its completeness in respect to fittings and furnishings, its immediate avails ability, also for the fact that the structure can carry another storey or more, and its centrality, permitting of its inmates having their luncheons and dinners there at all times.

The ladies’ committee have now purchased the property on the terms men-* tioned above, and by utilising the rooms in a different manner propose to extend the accommodation by at least a third; so that, with the provision for casuals* Chatsworth will he serving under the Y.W.C.A. as useful a purpose, from thq community point of view, as now, if not more so.

The question of whether the building could be filled by the Y.W.C.A. waf one to which the Board gave considerabut Miss Birch, the field organising secretary of the Y.W.C.A., assured members that there would be no difficulty about this, as wherever hostels were established the accommodation was not equal to the demand. The ladies’ committee were also quite satisfied in regard to their ability to maintain a “full house,” The Board also recommended the ladies to endeavor to pay off £3,000 immediately, and thereafter reduce the capital liability by at least £3OO ap« nually, so as in ten years, when the mortgage matures, but little of the purchase money will remain unpaid. This the ladies’ committee felt it could safely undertake. The owner, it may be explained, agreed to allow the tee to pay off the mortgage in multiples of £lOO. The members of the Advisory Board make no apology for their action in this matter. They feel they have done their best in the interests of the hostel committee and the (community [generally in circumstances of some difficulty, and are prepared to accept full responsibility for their part in the purchase. They only hope the public will close up their ranks and whole-heartily support the ladies in the good work they are doing to provide accommodation for the women and girls of the town and district, and in establishing a branch of an Association that has proved a powei; for good wherever it has been started. Wo are, yours faithfully, I IHTGH BAILY. T. C. LIST. J. MTEOD. W. H. SKINNER. C. H. WESTON. P. J. H. WHITE. Members of the Advisory Board.