SAILORS’ HOSTEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 December 1943, Page 4

SAILORS’ HOSTEL

PROJECT FOR WELLINGTON SUM OF £30,000 TO BE RAISED GORDON ANDERSON MEMORIAL In ports throughout the world, including Auckland, branches of the British Sailors’ Society operate hostels for the men of the Merchant Navy, but Wellington, New Zealand’s largest port and distributing centre, has none. (In memory of the late Mr Gordon Anderson, well known Wellington surgeon and friend of seamen, the. society has established the Gordon Anderson Memorial Fund with the object of erecting a hostel. The goal is £30.000 and already £l2OO is in hand. “No country in the Empire is more dependent on the services of sailors than New Zealand with her trade in primary products to overseas countries, and the resultant import trade' and local manufacture,” states Mr C. D. Morpeth, president of the society. “Not once has a fear of disaster stopped our seamen from manning their ships to serve the Dominion and her people. The men of the Merchant Marine are doing a heroic job brilliantly. Undoubtedly New Zealanders —producers, importers, manufacturers, and consumers —owe them a great debt of gratitude.”

After exposure many seamen require hospital treatment while in port, and then a period of convalescence in a hostel where they can be restored to full strength and given the amenities and care they deserve. Thirty Merchant Navy men are at present in the Wellington Hospital. These men all need healthy recreation and wholesome surroundings during their shore leave, and the British Sailors’ Society can widely extend its present service to cater for all requirements if suitable premises are acquired. The activities of the society are at present confined to providing reading and writing facilities, entertainment and recreation, and to religious work at its premises in Wakefield Street.

In a circular announcing the project and appealing for contributions, which has been put out ovjer the name of Mr C. Collins, honorary treasurer of the fund, the opinions of a number of shipping company managers and master mariners who strongly support the scheme are quoted. One captain, who says that such a hostel is very desirable, states: “While awaiting employment or repatriation the seaman needs a home that is not a charitable institution, and also requires healthy recreation in friendly surroundings. Such hostels already exist in other countries to provide these needs, and are greatly appreciated by seamen.”