NEW REST ROOMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26543, 19 August 1947, Page 4

NEW REST ROOMS

The essence of progress is, on many occasions, compromise, and the City Copncil and the Athenaeum Committee are to be congratulated upon the mutually-satisfactory compact which we announce in our news columns this .morning. By this arrangement the women of Dunedin, and of the Provincial District of Otago, will be provided at an early date with what should prove to be suitable rest rooms in a very central position. And at the same time the Athenaeum and Mechanics’ Institute, .which while shorn of some of its former glory continues to serve this community faithfully and well, will be enabled to carry on its work. Thus at a time when building difficulties are practically insuperable, and no wholly suitable site was immediately at the disposal of the City Council for the construction of rest rooms appropriate premises will be made available for the women of the district. The need for improved rest rooms is beyond question. Women’s organisations have for a considerable time supported the Daily Times in bringing the matter to public attention, and the Mayor and the working majority of the City Council had always recognised that rest rooms must be-a first call upon the authorities in their planning of civic improvements. Both his Worship and Cr Jolly, as chairman of the committee most concerned, are entitled to great credit for the happy solution of what, at one stage, appeared to be a problem allowing of no settlement within a predictable period. It is gratifying incidentally that an important site in the Octagon will thus be retained upon a joint basis as part of the civic resources of the city. If there is one part of the city which, more than any other, provides a focus for the development of civic and community enterprise, it is this bustling, pleasant central reserve. The buildings which fringe it are not by any means all beautiful, and the hope may be expressed that in future planning care and thought are exercised to assure that its lineaments are improved while at the same time its character, as a centre to which all roads lead, will be retained and enhanced.