SOLDIERS ON LEAVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25344, 30 September 1943, Page 6

SOLDIERS ON LEAVE

LACK OF ACCOMMODATION PROBLEM IN CHRISTCHURCH (Special) CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 29. The plight of soldiers on week-end leave in Christchurch because of the lack of accommodation was discussed at to-day’s meeting of the Canterbury Provincial Patriotic Council. The Mayor, Mr E. H. Andrews, said that last week the Young Men’s Christian Association had to accommodate 50 men on the floor of its building. “ Surely it is our duty to see that these men have somewhere to sleep," he declared. “It is not right that they should be wandering about the city or sleeping on the river banks. We owe a duty to them in this matter.” The discussion arose oyer the receipt of a reply from the National Patriotic Fund Board, which declined to subsidise money which had already been voted by the council for the provision of extra accommodation for visiting soldiers at the Y.M.C.A.

The chairman of the Standing Committee, Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon, who supported the remarks of the Mayor, moved that the council should pay the additional £525 outstanding (whicn it had been hoped the National Fund Board would have subsidised). “We can send a deputation to the board later and explain the circumstances,” said Mr Mac Gibbon. “ I feel that when members know the full circumstances they will be more sympathetic. There is an imperative need for accommodation in Christchurch at this moment. We have some big camps near here, and we must face up to the situation; it cannot be allowed to drift.” The situation at the week-ends, said Mr E. F. Willcox (secretary of the Returned Services’ Association), was “ absolutely serious.” Dr J. Leslie Will said that the Union Jack Club, of which he was president, had provided accommodation for more than 100,000 men since it had been established. He suggested that the Standing Committee should investigate •11 possible sources of accommodation. The council adopted the suggestion.