Poor Boarding Conditions

"Quite an experience" was the way in which a first-year student described for Salient his first dealings with Wellington boarding houses.

This student had arranged board in Karori, but upon arrival was informed that his landlady was ill and unable to take him in. Stranded with nowhere to go, in desperation he found board in a house like in inverted shoe-box".

His room had no wardrobe—"One lived entirely from suitcases." In theory, light laundry was done, but this student found that whenever he presented his washing to the landlady he was informed—"Oh no—we never wash that!" He was not provided with anything with which to make his lunch, and he described week-end food is "poor, but at least presentable, Lots of watery cabbage, and the occasional steak."

Special features of his life as a boarder, included having to pay threepence whenever he wanted a h. and frequently having fish and chips bought from a shop by his landlady for the evening meal. The student told the Salient reporter wryly, that his landlady seemed only to be happy when the rent was paid or the lawns mowed. "There was a large back lawn," he commented.

Supper was provided by a chap in a flat upstairs, who also helped the student do his washing. He was permitted to listen to the radio, but "it was on 2ZB non-stop and she didn't like me sitting in the living room."

He was provided with a heater. "My landlady said it was cold at night and she didn't want me getting the flu." But when the heater was put on in the daytime "she came and said it was unnecessary as it wasn't cold then, and to turn it off." He gave it back. "I'd hate to be ill in that place," he said feelingly. "I'd be entirely dependent on her mercy."

The sum paid for the privilege of staying in the establishment was four pounds ten, from a studentship wage of six pounds. These are typical of boarding house conditions in Wellington. The student's final comment was: "She told me she wasn't making any money of me." After moving, he did some reckoning, and "knows differently now".