WOMEN'S REST ROOMS

Evening Star, Issue 25468, 26 April 1945, Page 10

WOMEN'S REST ROOMS

ACCOMODATION INADEQUATE SUGGESTIONS BY COUNCILLORS The inadequacy of the present women's rest room in Princes street, and the desirability of providing a large and up-to-date building for this purpose, were stressed by certain speakers at Monday night's meeting of the City Council while the reports of the General Committee and the Finance Committee were under discussion. But while the necessity for improved conditions was freely admitted by the respective chairmen, difficulties in the matters of finance and site for the early provision of any elaborate scheme were explained. Or P. G. Connolly, while commending the General Committee for its decision to open the women's rest room on Anzac Day and V-Day, took exception to the statement in the clause that " the portion would be checked next Anzac Day." He did not like the phraseology, he said. Cr 1). G. McMillan spoke of the need for more accommodation of the kind for women, and asked the com mittee to give consideration to the erection of a wooden building in the Queen's/Gardens, with provision therein for a day nursery. Later, when the Finance Committee's report was before the meeting, Cr M. Connelly said that he wished to ask the chairman whether, in view of the unsatisfactory condition and inadequate accommodation. in the women's rest room in Princes street, he would take steps to expedite the preparation of the ' plansj specifications, and costs of a new building, in order that a sum of money might be placed on this year's estimates for the construction of a building to replace the existing one. In replying to Cr McMillan, the chairman of the General Committee (Cr D. C. Jolly) said that his committee had been considering the mat ter of a new rest room for some time past. The present room certainly needed renovating, he said, and the General Committee was negotiating with the Finance Committee for funds wjth which to enlarge that room. Cr Jolly added that he did not think that Queen's Gardens would be a suitable site for a building of that nature. Women who came to town to shop would prefer a more central site. Cr Taverner's reply on behalf of the Finance Committee to Cr M. Connelly was that the latter's proposal was impracticable at the present time. It would cost a great deal of money, and it was not possible to provide that money out of the income from rates. There might be another solution to the problem, said Cr Taveruer, but it could not be arranged out of this year's estimates