THE COLLEGE HOSTEL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 17, 15 October 1907, Page 4

THE COLLEGE HOSTEL.

The hostel for women students attending Victoria College,'the'first pile of which was driven yesterday, calls for some notice.on several interesting grounds. Originating with Mrs. Wallis, the proposal to establish an institution that would serve, the double purpose of providing women students with just the quarters they require, and of making an important beginning with the cultivation of a real college spirit, was fortunate enough to. find a little body of sympathisers generous enough to : settle the financial problem at a blow. As a result the Hostel, save for the mqre detail of construction* is an accomplished fact, and Victoria College is to be congratulated on the circumstance. Students everywhere, and especially women students, have always experienced the greatest difficulty in finding a suitable home in the city to which they must exile themselves, and it is this material want which the new institution will fill. That is an admirable end, as' many a girl graduate who remembers her own loneliness will declare. But the gathering together of a large number of students under one roof is another and equally desirable end. Jn this country University life is naked of that sentiment, and devoid of that spirit of mellow tradition, which are othe most valuable qualities of University life in England, and which cannot properly develop while practically the only contact between students is the contact of the lecture rooms. The new Hostel will change all that for the women students of Victoria College, and'will make College life real and vivid for them. In these days, when the College spirit is constantly threatened by the inroads of hard utilitarianism, this is something to be thankful for. A pleasant feature of the project is the co-operation between the Anglican and Presbyterian Church.bodies, and it may be.hoped; that the product of their alliance will with the years expand into further usefulness,, and ultimately; through the influence of the educated women'; who will benefit by it, proclaim the great profit of religious union.,