Kensington House

Last year the Executive considered in great detail the possibility of buying a 21-bed Hostel, Kensington House, in Newtown. The Executive, on balance, was in favour of purchasing the hostel and was prepared to do so.

The University Council, however, was not strongly in favour of the scheme, and declined to lend its support. Specifically, it refused to collect the whole of the new increased Students' Association fee, part of which was to be used to purchase the hostel.

This is not necessarily the end of the matter, however. Council is prepared this year to consider further submissions from the Executive, if it wishes to continue the venture.

There are arguments for and against the purchase of such a hostel. On the credit side there is the argument that accommodation for students is very limited in New Zealand and probably more so in Wellington than in any other University centre. The cost of providing accommodation is very high and if students are to enlist public support they must show that they are prepared to help solve the problem themselves.

On the debit side Council considered that Executive would be saddling 25 years of future Executives with mortgage payments that they might not wish to pay. Further, at the end of 25 years, the Association would own a decidedly elderly building (Kensington House is not a new building even now) which might well be more of a liability than an asset. Council also felt that if the Association were to press for a Government pound-for-pound subsidy on the hostel the University's chances of a similar subsidy on a much larger hostel project might be jeopardized.

Thus it seems that this is not a clear-cut issue. It would probably be impossible to state with certainty that the decision taken was right or wrong. It remains up to Executive now to decide whether or not it will attempt to get the Council to change its mind.