• Accommodation

A relatively new innovation at Victoria and the first time it has been directly controlled at executive level. Student accommodation problems in Wellington are considered by other universities to be the most difficult in the country. Board is difficult to obtain in competition with business firms and civil servants. The overall shortage of accommodation in Wellington can only be of detriment to students who are forced to compete with very limited resources on a market where rents continue to spiral, often out of reach of the less well-off members of the community. Your executive feels that the time is not yet right for association funds to be used for the provision of accommodation, but the time is ripe for further pressure to be brought to bear on the community and Government for further provisions. It is felt that approaches should be made to the business community for co-operation in this respect as they, too, have similar problems and can only benefit from an increased supply of the more highly-qualified people the university and technical institutions can provide.

The association has had much pleasure in co-operating with Mrs. Brown, the university accommodation officer, and a guide to the obtaining of accommodation in Wellington has been published and will be available in 1067. Prom the students' point of view much can be achieved by the improving of relations with the city, and by making your executive aware of your problems. More information will enable better representations to be made on your behalf when often ill-founded criticism appears in the news media. It could also be pointed out that a small num-ber of students, often by their actions, make it very difficult for the general welfare of the association's members.