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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 18, No. 3. March 25, 1954

The Future of Weir

page 3

The Future of Weir

Weir House is now in its twenty-first year and it is an opportune time to take stock and more important to look at its future. Few would deny that Victoria College is the richer for the existence of Weir House; although naturally enough, its greatest impact has been on the individual students who have resided in it.

Only Men's Residence

The fact that it is the only men's residence has at once given it a special significance and a certain freakishness. The absence of other Residential Houses has, paradoxically enough, tended to isolate it rather than to draw it nearer to College life. A student at Weir House is soon aware that apart from his fellow residents he has no counterpart elsewhere in the University. The tradition and way of life of the House are self-nurtured and almost wholly unaffected by exterior influences. Had another or other similar institutions existed, the interaction between them would have beep stimulating and on the whole beneficial. Petty rivalries would no doubt exist but these would, I am sure, be overshadowed by the wholesome influence of one House upon the other.

Weir House now holds ninety-four students. It was originally planned to hold approximately one hundred and thirty, but the failure of the then Government to pay any subsidy caused the plans to be modified and the House is still uncompleted. Sooner or later, a decision will have to be made as to whether or not the original plan, involving a further wing and a new dining-hall, is to be carried out. At the present time it is possible for most residents to get to know most of their fellows. This would be impossible in a larger House. But the more closely-knit life of a smaller House has at least one serious disadvantage, namely, that pettiness and small jealousies on the part of one or two residents can have a vicious and disruptive effect on the whole life of the community within the House.

In the end, considerations of economy will no doubt dictate the decision to be made, for it is obviously more economic to extend Weir House than to build another self-sufficient student residence. If after, or indeed while that is being done, another House for Victoria students could also be built. Weir and the College would benefit greatly.

Administration

But assuming that someday Weir will be completed, what else remains to be done? If Weir is to grow, a pressing need (it already exists) will be the provision of suitable quarters, preferably a nearby house, to accommodate a married Warden and his family. This would make possible the continuity of administration which so far Weir has sadly lacked. Twelve Wardens in twenty-one years speaks for itself. The completed House could accommodate at least two single members of the College teaching-staff to act as tutors and sub-wardens. Weir would then have some claim to call itself a college in its own right. Space prevents me from discussing other developments. I hope that Weir will have attained full stature before it celebrates a further twenty-one years of service to Victoria College.