YOUTH HOSTELS

Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 8

YOUTH HOSTELS

MR J. E. LOVELOCK'S INTEREST EXTENSIONS IN THE OXFORD AREA Referring to the nomination of Mr J. E. Lovelock as vice-presi-dent of the Youth Hostel Association of New Zealand, in the position left vacant by the late Mrs F Wilding, the honorary organiser, Ml™ C. H. Wilding, of Christchurch, • said that Mr Lovelock, during his three years at Oxford, tramped a great deal ' ih the Lake District, the Cotswolds, fee Avon Valley, the Wye Valley, and fee South Downs, staying always at ;■ fee youth hostels. It was these same ; hostels that many of the. New Zealand 1 Youth Hostel Association party going ■■ to England next year had planned to ■ visit. Mr Lovelock, because he real- ' ised the value to the community of youth hostels, was interested in the New Zealand movement and had accepted nomination. _ . In a letter accepting nomination Mr : Lovelock stated feat, although he had 5 so often availed himself of the excellent hostel facilities in Britain, he had Dot been aware, until quite recently, £ of their existence in New Zealand. The New Zealand hostels, said Miss Wilding, although on a very humble 9pale compared with overseas hostels, had nevertheless accomplished very useful service in the last four years of feoir existence, enabling many hundreds to go for long walking holidays out in I fee open. The present Government has recognised the value of the Youth ; Hostel Assocaition,, and recently gave c a third concession on all railway tickets 1 to association members engaged on a . tramping expedition. The Oxford service car had also given a much-appre-ciated concession. Overseas the railways and Channel feiry strainers gave :• important concessions from practically ! the foundation of the association. ; The hostels here, as in all overseas ; countries, wore open not only to tramp- ’ fere, but also to their only ‘ qualification for membership being that they must travel under their own mus- ' cular power, so this excluded motor i cycles or cars. In Holland the form ' of locomotion adopted by sorno Youth • Hostel Accommodation members was a ; canoe, and they paddled themselves ; down a canal from one hostel to another. Youth hostels have spread widely over , Banks Peninsula, which makes an ex- ' oellent tramping ground, with its winding roads commanding magnificent . views over the wide-stretching plain. ; The tramper has every opportunity of sea bathing. “The second chain of hostels is on the West Coast,” said Miss Wilding, “ and instead of the Peninsula farmr Louses, whose owners have so hospit- ; ably received Yoiith Hostel Association : .Hampers, hotels have been more used. Unfortunately some who helped before have withdrawn, as putting up trampers to them, at Is a night and Is 3d a dinner, is more a public-spirited act, not a money-making concern. Mr ; MTntosh’s Hokitika hotel and Mr i Dunn’s Durauchelle Hotel (Banks Peninsula) are generously continuing to remain youth hostels, but, especially on the Coast, there is urgent need for mere hostels. ' _ “ The commencement of a now chain in splendid tramping country has just been formed in the Oxford region, comJirising the foothills and the deep valeys and gorges which lead into the i • Alps. The one hostel is at Cooper’s Creek, the other At Ashley Gorge. It is hoped that this chain will bo extended, though either hostel makes a splendid centre for two or three days, from which to make expeditions up the Ashley Gorge, climbing Mount Oxford or Mount Richardson, or following up the Lees Valley.” In a message to fee Youth Hostel !Association Mr J. E. Lovelock says; “ My sincere good wishes for fee future success of fee movement, which I know through much personal experience to be a very valuable one to the youth of this, as well as to every other country, and to hope that the young people of New Zealand may be enabled to take full _ advantage of the splendid opportunities which they have in this country for free, open-air life, the opportunities of which I feel they are perhaps at present not sufficiently aware. Not until they have sampled the overcrowded life in older parts of the world can they fully appreciate the opportunities which they possess in this country, and I trust most sincerely that the Youth Hostel Association movement will grow in strength and receive the •full support that it deserves, not only from the youth, but also from the older members of the community, who can do so much to help the work along by material support.”