August 12, 1966

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of VUWSA.

Accommodation — the problem worsens

Accommodation in Wellington—whether for students or anyone else—is a serious problem. While this is hardly news, it may be appropriate to reemphasise just how serious the problem is.

If every hostel place now scheduled to be completed by 1970 is built, and the university continues to grow at the anticipated rate—there will be fewer new hostel places than there will be additional students needing them.

There is no reason to believe that all the projected hostel places will be completed. Right on campus we have symbolised in Rankine Brown's deficiencies the present over-extension of the building industry.

The university itself is stimulating the pressure. It is extending into areas of student housing and slowly buying up—admittedly for much-needed university space—houses and flats where students used to live.

Meanwhile, some MPs are in revolt against the high cost of university halls of residence. Mr. D. McIntyre pointed out last year that one Auckland hall of residence being built by the churches is costing £2500 per bed.

Yet a luxury motel has been built in Auckland for £1450 per bed.

A tall concrete earthquake-proof apartment building has been erected in Wellington for £860 per bed.

Behind this dissatisfaction is the carefully concealed fact that many students—possibly one-third of Victoria students—would not live in halls of residence even if they existed, as recent surveys have shown.

It will be strenuously denied by the present hostels—but it is true that vacancies in some hostels have been embarrassingly hard to fill on more than one occasion. A year ago. one hostel had still not managed to fill all its beds by the end of the academic year.

This is understandable—in too many of them students are expected to conform to strict religious and social requirements.

Hostel board rates, inevitably inflated by the cost of the labour they employ, inevitably restricted by the meagre financial resources of students, create spartan living conditions.

Yet no one has satisfactorily explained why students need these hired staff to cook and clean for them.

To the hundreds of students, huddled in the poor-standard, excessively expensive, depressing accommodation of the present it is little comfort to know that worse is yet to come.—H.B.R.

Cable car profits — the city's conscience

Wellington City Transport is a problem which we would wish upon no one. Indeed, we can only admire the courage of those city councillors who have tried to bring sense to the complicated mess of services existing in Wellington.

Whether it be the return of the trams, an underground railway, a standard fare, or centre-city minibus transport, everyone has a pet theory to solve the muddle. Particularly in City Council matters, the days of the self-appointed "expert" citizen are still very much with us.

But having said this, let it be clear that we have the utmost contempt for the narrow-minded exploitative attitude of the City Council towards the cable car.

When this paper suggested (Salient 4) that a modernisation of this service is essential, with new cars and a rescheduled service, the city's reply was a classic in evasion.

Passenger usage is declining, the city said. Moreover, the oldest trams in Wellington form part of the cable cars—and any move to replace them would undoubtedly offend older folk, who are proud of Wellington's history.

Now, after a year of record profit, the fare for this "historic service" is to be raised again.

The City Council must be bluntly told that the cable car is not a historic (and profitable) toy. It is a public service, which must be run on a modern system and not merely to make an excessive profit.

We may doubt the sincerity of the Council when it so cynically carries out its present policy. If it were a realistic policy, the Council, to be consistent, would have to pull down its parking buildings and bring back horse-drawn trams to the streets.—H.B.R.