Weir House

Three separate projects are altering the physical state of the House and its associated houses. The Weir House Council last year, with the approval of the University Council, decided to spend $24,000 as the first and most major part of a five year upgrading programme. The old wing of the House is being substantially re painted: of the communal areas, one floor was re painted early in 1977, and the repainting of the other two floors is currently being completed. One third of the rooms in this wing are also being repainted and two of the corridors are being re-carpeted. So, within a few weeks a major face-life will be complete. The Weir House Council has also budgeted for up to $5,000 to be spent on refurnishing.

The Ministry of Recreation and Sport provided a grant of $11,000 and with this money nine students have been repainting the five houses associated with Weir as well as demonstrating their talents for destruction and rebuilding fences and outhouses.

Two other bureaucracies completed the act, the Wellington City Council by demanding substantial fire safety improvements, and the University Grants Committee by providing the money. This work is almost complete.

With all these changes Weir House is no longer what its former residents remember. As well as moving to a vastly improved physical and culinary state it has moved to establish more communal facilities. It now has a second, new common room, a library and cooking facilities. As it also has the best site in Wellington for University accommodation, it awaits only the Supreme Court's favourable decision to make Weir House the best community accommodation for all students in Wellington.

Weir House, the University's hall of residence for men, seems unlikely to be able to admit women into residence this year. This is a consequence of the slow workings of the law which have prevented the Supreme Court from considering as yet the University's case to have William Weir's will varied.

Weir House was originally established through a large bequest from the timber merchant which specified that the bequest should be used "for the purpose of a Men's Residential College". Until that one word "men's" has been legally rubbed out, the House must remain as Weir envisaged it in 1925, a segregated institution.

There are high hopes that the Supreme Court will shortly consider the case and move with the times and the House's economic necessities to cross out that one word in the will. But because this has taken so long, Weir House now has places vacant that would originally have gone to women.

Though this change is being slow, other welcome changes, both in personnel and the physical state of the building are almost completed. Halls of residence, like armies, march on their stomachs, and in the past some Weir men thought the food was better marched on than eaten. Now, however, with the arrival of Mrs. Alison Murphy, the change has to be tasted to be believed.