HOSTEL OPENED MOTUEKA FUNCTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 21 April 1945, Page 2

HOSTEL OPENED

MOTUEKA FUNCTION

LADY NEWALL PERFORMS CEREMONY VALUE OF DEHYDRATED FOOD STRESSED The Motueka dehydration factory hostel was/officially opened yesterday afternoon by Her Excellency Lady Newall. before a large attendance of th;» public. The hostel will provide accommodation for more than 50 girls. Her Excellency was welcomed by the; denuty-Mayor, Mr H. D. Bennett, who referred to the work being done by the Motueka Y.W.C.A. committee which was responsible for the running of the hostel. It was gratifying, he added that their work was being recognised by the visit of Her Excellency. The Hon. C. F. Skinner, member of 1 Parliament for the district, said that it I gave him great pleasure to be present j at the opening of the hostel. When | the Government had been asked to! supply foodstuffs for the troops in the i Pacific it was necessary to find a | method of sending perishable food into I very hot climates and the dehydration : method was developed. Plants were I quickly established and they had contributed in no small way to the success of the forces operating in the I Pacific. It was a swift-moving cam- < paign and supplies must be able to I stand a lot of knocking about without | losing their full food value. Dehydra-1 tion was the answer. Dealing with the establishment of the hostel, the Minister said that the Gov- | ernment recognised that it was neces- j sary to give workers reasonable ac- ! commodation near their work and hos-1 tels had therefore been established throughout New Zealand. In every instance they had been handed over l to the Y.W.C.A. to manage and he had j heard no complaints concerning the way they were run. In conclusion, the Minister congratulated those responsible for running the hostel. All the reports he had heard were glowing tributes to the work of the local Y.W.C.A. committee and those actively engaged in the management of the institution. The chairman of the Hostel Committee, Mrs H. D. Bennett, extended a welcome to Her Excellency, remarking that the Y.W.C.A. throughout New Zealand had good reason to be grateful i to her for the personal interest she had taken in its work among women and girls. Members appreciated very much her visits, especially informal ones, to the association's hostels and clubs. “This district is peculiarly in need of something to meet the requirements of seasonal workers,' said Mrs Bennett. ! “Many of us think that the accommodation to be offered here will solve the i difficulty. In undertaking the local : control of .this hostel the Y.W.C.A. is' pursuing a policy having for its origin* the great work of Florence Nightingale ! back in the Victorian Age. More and | more the association is extending the j good influence of Christianity. The end j of the war will give us greater oppor- * tunities for the care of young women ! all over the world.” FEEDING STARVING EUROPE j Stressing the value of dehydrated! food in feeding starving'Europe, Her j Excellency said that for the past fort- j night every issue of the London ! “Times.” which now arrived in New! Zealand regularly by air, was full of i stories of the starving people of-' Europe. As Holland became more : and more liberated the problem of feeding the people became greater. It * 1 would take years of good, scientific'

feeding to make those people fit once I more. New Zealand was in a position to be able to help supply their needs. It meant not only putting into practice th2 ideals of Christianity; it meant sav- | ing lives. With the dearth of shipping I space which was at present available j it was only through dehydration that anything like the necessary quantity of food could be made available to the thousands of people who were still starving in the countries which had been occupied by the enemy. Another point stressed by Her Excellency was the great need existing for leaders, and she appealed to all girls who were in a position to do so to attend the course in leadership which was being started at Dunedin. In conclusion Lady Newall congratulated the Government and those people whose foresight was responsible for the establishment of the hostel and also those women who were so successfully managing the institution.