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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 35 no. 19. 3rd August 1972

[Letter from James D. C. Patchett]

As I sit here, in the library a good view of Wellington's harbour is laid out below. In the foreground tied up behind some building lies the good ship "Maori". Then I think of the accommodation — more so the lack of it available at cheap rates to students etc.

Thinking further I know that the "Maori" was a passenger ferry, sort of a floating boarding house, full of small rooms suitable for accommodation for many hundreds of students.

It now seems to me that the "Maori" is just waiting for somebody to buy her and I guess she's going fairly cheap, would, with suitable modification make excellent accommodation for desperate students. The vast areas of cargo space could be utilized for recreational areas, which would be used for concerts, films, common rooms or gymnasiums.

It therefore seems to me and surely to many other people who have wondered about the fate of this vessel that this would be an excellent use for it. Overseas other groups have modified such boats for various requirements (take for example the Queen Elizabeth I, modified for a floating university before some arsonist wrote her epitaph

It however seems aparent that the purchase and modification of the "Maori" would prove more economical than buying land and then building an apartment block for students. For this reason I believe that this university should look into the possibilities of such a venture.

James D.C. Patchett.