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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 12. 1964.
Student Damage to Ruapehu Lodge
Student Damage to Ruapehu Lodge
Damage to the extent of £35 was done to the lodge of the Wellington Catholic Tramping Club at Mt. Ruapehu during Study Week. The lodge was occupied by a party of eight boys and six girls, most of whom were students.
"Many unfortunate features have arisen from the damage. One is the publicity given by the Evening Post. To the best of our knowledge, the article was compiled on purely hearsay evidence. Readers may consequently have gained a false impression of the party's conduct, and their connection with the student body."
He said the party did not embark on a spree of vandalism. They claimed that the damage was done in the course of a party on the Tuesday night when there were visitors from several other huts on the mountain. Mr. Stephenson was staying at another lodge during the week, and made inquiries at a number of huts on Wednesday morning. He could not find any witnesses to the defacing of the ski store room wall. No mattresses were slashed. Most of the damage resulted from what the club felt was culpable negligence.
- A panel of wire reinforced glass in the back door of the lodge was broken.
- A hole was punched in the door between the lounge and the back porch.
- A hole was burnt in the drying-room floor. This resulted from putting hot ashes in a wooden box beside the stove. Three electrical fire type extinguishers were used when there was a water-type extinguisher right outside the door. At the moment the lodge is left with nothing to combat electrical fires.
- Four holes were poked in the hardboard wall of the ski store room. It is hard to believe that this could be anything other than wilful damage.
- A crucifix was removed from the wall of the lounge. (The committee is very anxious that this be returned as it was donated by a former president of the club).
- The private bunk room was entered forcibly through the window, and the window was left unsecured against weather.
On Wednesday morning another member of the committee visited the mountain and with Mr. Stephenson told the party that they would be required to pay for the damage since they had booked the lodge for the week and were held responsible for its care. They agreed to this. It was also suggested that it would be a point in their favour if they cleaned the hut up well before leaving on Friday morning. In spite of this Mr. Stephenson found a number of broken bottles and empty tins outside the hut on Friday. Two cartons and a bucketfull of rubbish were left outside the doors and the linoleum in the back porch was left muddy. The drain in the kitchen sink was blocked with fat.
Mr. Stephenson felt that together these facts did not suggest a very serious desire to make some recompense to the club. He could only agree with one of the girls on the trip who summed up the week as a "shabby do all round."
He said the CTC lodge was built three years ago, entirely by voluntary labour of club members. Money was raised by working parties, donations, raffles and debentures. Some members took weeks off work and paid their own transport to the mountain to work on the lodge.
The group was not an organised one and was in no way connected with the Varsity Ski Club or Tramping Club, nor with the other student parties on the mountain organised by Mr. Bill Landreth, he said.
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C.T.C. Sec. Stephenson and holes.