£2400 NEW WING FOR REHUA MAORI HOSTEL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 11

£2400 NEW WING FOR REHUA MAORI HOSTEL

Additional accommodation for 12 boys will be provided at the Rehua Hostel for Maori apprentices bi : the construction of a £2400 wing. -? ‘ ■ The present plans proposed bedroom and toilet facilities for the boys, said the superintendent of the Methodist Central Mission (the Rev. W. E. Falkingham), but the possibility of adding a lounge and dining room was being considered. ' The wing will be a two-storey, timber construction with a frontage to Springfield road. The area of the two floors is yet undetermined, but will be more than 600 square feet, Construction is expected to be started in a few weeks when the details of the plans are completed. With the additional wing the Rehua hostel win accommodate 48 Maori boys.. z The Government has approved a 50 per cent, subsidy. “The reason for going ahead immediately with this project is that there is pressure from the North* Island, where there is a large concentration of Maori population,” said Mr Falkingham. “In the areas from which the boys come there are few opportunities for them to become apprenticed.’'* ’ Now in its sixth year, the Rehua hostel is administered by the Christchurch Methodist Central Mission for young Maori apprentices who live away from home. The hostel was originally situated in Stanmore road, but the new building in Springfield road was opened in 1957 with a maximum accommodation of 30. During the six years of operation the hostel has dealt with 61 apprentices, and at the beginning of the year the first group of nine boyi completed their contracts. “The Rehua Hostel Committee has previously held the policy of keeping boys for three years only in order that more could be taken,’’ said Mr Falkingham. “The committee reversed this policy as they found that even after three years it was difficult for Maoris to find good board in the city. From now on the boys will be kept for the complete period of their apprenticeship of five years, and about 12 boys due to leaye in December have been invited to stay if they have not found suitable board." The woodwork trades have the largest group of apprentices—36 of the total of 61. Efforts have been made by the committee to spread the choice of trades, and now many of the boys are studying as motor mechanics and blacksmiths with smaller numbers in nine other trades. In a report on the hostel, the Maori Welfare Officer (Mr D. G. Clark) said that very few of the

boys had not done well at their trades, and some had been outstanding apprentices. “It is very pleasing on some occasions to call on- a foreman and to hear that his Maori boys are the best in his shop.” The apprentices have come to the hostel from all over the Country, There is a predominance of Wairoe boys on the roll and others have travelled from as far as, Auckland, and Dunedin. “May these boys continue to act as excellent ambassadors in Christchurch for their people,” Mr Clark’s report ended.