EXTENSIONS TO MAORI HOSTEL

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31029, 7 April 1966, Page 18

EXTENSIONS TO MAORI HOSTEL

Senior Maori apprentices at the M eedons Carpentry School are building extensions to “Te Kaihanga.” their hostel in Hansons lane, which will increase its accommodation from 48 to 76. The hostel has been run by the Christchurch Anglican Social Service Council since 1953 for the Department of Maori Affairs.

“This scheme is so successful throughout New Zealand that the Department of Maori Affairs is anxious for a greater number to be trained at the Weedons Carpentry School and is, therefore, extending and renovating the present hostel," said Mr G. M. Morgan yesterday. Mr Morgan, who retired this week as director of the social service council, has been responsible for supervising the running of the hostel and maintaining liaison with the department. The additions will include a second bedroom wing, a large diningroom, an up-to-date kitchen, and a large recreation hall which will be fitted with a stage and will also have a small canteen. A flat for the recentlyappointed master and matron, Mr and Mrs J. Ethell, is being built in a central position. Covered ways will connect all the new buildings to the rest of the hostel. The present kitchen will be converted to a bathroom and ablution block, and the old dining-room will be used for night classes in technical education and courses in the Maori language. The cost of the additions and renovations is estimated at £25;000. Recreation Hall The flat for the master and matron and a new drying room have been completed and work has started on the recreation hall. “The building work is being undertaken by the senior boys with the supervision of their instructors,” Mr Morgan said. ‘This project has taken the place of the building of houses in Christchurch this year, normally done by sec-ond-year boys, whose ages range from 15 to 19.” Construction will probably be in asbestos board to match the present bedroom wing, and the bedrooms will have built-in furniture. A full and varied life is enjoyed by the Maori apprentices at the hostel, who come from all over the Dominion, though mainly from rural districts in the North Island. Maori carving, as well as carpentry, enables them to use their flair for handwork, and they are given the opportunity to develop an interest in Maori music and Maori culture generally. Sport is a feature of hostel life. In the last two seasons ‘Te Kaihanga” has provided two Rugby teams, which have played in grades' under the Canterbury Rugby Union, and further teams will be created when more boys are accommodated. Haka Parties The council's supervising social worker, Mr W. L. Cox,, takes a special interest in the apprentices and helps them considerably in their leisure time. They provide much of their entertainment themselves, with haka parties and their own pop band. •The standard of their work

and the zest with which they apply themselves are certainly outstanding, and we often learn from master builders how satisfactory they have proved in employment," said Mr Morgan. “One of the master builders was so impressed with their work that his firm pre. sented them with a television set. “The Department of Maori Affairs is to be congratulated for the manner in which it has organised this scheme, which is helping to provide New Zealand with skilled tradesmen and good citizens.' he said. The considerable cost of running the hostel is met by the general trust of the social service council, which relies heavily on public contribu tions and bequests to enable it to meet expenses.