Youth Hostels.

In view of the fact that some of our young New Zealanders visiting England have joined up with the Youth Hostel Association, thus being enabled to see more of the country more cheaply than they could otherwise have done, it is interesting to note a few facts given in a recent B.B.C. talk.

The Youth Hostels Association, established in 1930, has grown amazingly, both in membership (now over sixty thousand) and in number of hostels (almost three hundred). Young people who are having a tramping or cycling holiday, may plan their tour to arrive each night at a Youth Hostel, where the charge is only one shilling. The time limit at any one hostel is three nights.

What do the hostels provide? There are washing and cooking facilities, and accommodation for men and boys, women and girls, in separate dormitories. Most “hostellers” don't mind helping with the chores—bed-making, potato peeling, etc. Some of the larger hostels provide good two-course meals for a shilling.

An additional advantage, especially for New Zealanders who naturally want to see as much as they can during their trip, is that the Y.H.A. is linked up with hostel associations in other countries. There are four thousand hostels on the Continent, so it should be easy to plan a tour to include just those places one has always longed to visit.

Besides the material benefits of the Youth Hostel movement, are the social benefits. In any one hostel, a New Zealander may meet people from practically any country. Surely, in the friendliness of the open road, and in the round-the-fire discussions after an energetic day, a feeling of understanding, and a spirit of mutual well-wishing, so needed in the topsy-turvy-dom of international affairs, will be engendered. Every individual realisation of our common humanity is a nail in the coffin of war.