At Last---Flats for Business Women

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 19, 21 November 1930, Page 32

At Last---Flats for Business Women

Wellington Supplies Long Felt Want

‘HIS has been an exceptional season for spring flowers, I don’t. think I have ever seen them in such profusion before, I was visiting a home the other day, and as we entered the drive on either side were masses of tulips and forget-me-nots which confronted. us in one blaze of colour. The glorious colours of the tulips mingled with the Dlue of the forget-me-nots was a sight neyer to be forgotten. At this same home they have a special part reserved for the iris, and they have arranged ‘an informal grouping of many varieties. We are to see this in all its glory next month, ARRIAGH should constitute an eminently fair partnership (says Ursula Bloom in "The Queen"). ‘Too often it is divided into one demanding all the freedom and liberty, and leaying the other partner to work and wait on him, and deal with the more mundane side. Marriage, to be suceessful, should be share and share alike. There are too few friends in marriage. Ifyou treat your husband as a lover and do not make a friend of him, something is bound to go wrong. Lovers, yes, but not all the time. Friends, undoubtedly and definitely, all the time. Marriage is something approaching a divine friendship if it runs along the scheduled

nnes;

ALISON

RRECENTLY the prosperity of Wellington has been showing itself in a very marked degree. One has only to look from the harbour to see how rapidly the building outline is changing, almost daily, and their building is silhouetted. One of the latest buildings to join the Regiment of Prosperity is that of Batchelor Flats for Business Women, which have been erected on the Terrace and are just nearing completion. Wellington women have for a long time needed such a home, and they now have an ideal corner for their own. I had the pleasure this morning of viewing them with a friend, who has just taken one of the flats. They consist of a hall, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. That sounds useful, but prosaic, but when I tell you the contents you'll be captivated. In the hall there are cupboards for umbrellas, coats, or anything else one needs to put out of the eye of vision. Then, in the living room, there are windows taking up nearly all one side of the room, and cupboards half another side. But, wait until I tell you, these cupboards hold real secrets. One has her room artistically furnished and may entertain friends to bridge round. a glowing radiator, and when they go one approaches the cupboard and by "open sesame" two beautifully-made beds pull down as easily as opening a door. The bedclothes are kept on them, when tilted upward, by bed clamps and also by doubling over the bed head, They are wonderfully made of steel, and every part is beautifully finished. There is a multiplicity of springs, which makes them the most inviting beds one ever saw. In the other cupboard is another wardrobe, which appears not to have existed. The bathroom is ideal. It is painted in a soft-coloured green, and (joy of joys!) hot water ig supplied all dgy long free of charge. The flooring is Fama, and there is a long nickelplated towel rail fixed ready for use. A cupboard in which is a chest of drawers, a mirror, table, and shelves, and another cupboard still above this is cunningly concealed. [THE flooring of the entire flat is covered with malthoid, and then on top of that thick, expensive linoleum. Really, the whole flat needs very little furniture, and the kitchen needs nothing more than some stools, which can be stowed away under the built-in table, half of which is made to lift up for extension purposes. There is a quaint little device for the milk. This has a cupboard door in the kitchen and another in the main hall, by which the milkman on his rounds is able to leave the bottle conveniently placed. . As well as the drop-table in the kitchen, there is a dresser with drawers, shelves and cupboards, and there is also a safe, The non-splash taps,

and the electric stove which each flat contains are really very modern. The main entrance of the general building is tiled, and with the swing-doors create a most mansion-like effect. The roof garden has many attractions, for not only is there sun all day, but also a magnificent harbour view. For those tenants who have not sufficient faith in the bag wash, there are three wash-houses, with penny-in-the-slot gas-meters. Hach flat is provided with a rubbish tin, which is emptied each morning by the caretaker. In the basement there is a large room for storage of boxes, with special places for each tenant’s possessions. Arrangements have been made for a caretaker and his wife to live e empues

on the premises, and any extra work in the way of cleaning may be arranged through them, On the premises also is to be a tea and cake kitchen, where meals may be had, or soup bought to be heated up in one’s own quarters. To me, the flats seemed indeed excellent, and I came away envying all who will be lucky enough to live there; and congratulations should be extended to the creators for further advancing the city of Wellington, and for affording real homes to so many people right in the heart of the city.-Alison.

Alone A SEAGULL in the evening mist, His wings by dying sunlight kissed, Came flying past; alone, gold-lit. A mountain, rugged, awful, grand Whose beauty none could under- { stand, Stood silent by; alone, austere. And I remembered truly then Him who was killed by angry men These years ago; alone, unloved.

D.A.

S.