HOSTEL FOR SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16500, 30 July 1919, Page 6

HOSTEL FOR SOLDIERS.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR USE. THE BUILDING AND ITS PURPOSE. The Soldiers’ Hostel, which -opened in Now Plymouth to-day, is intended m llie Jirst. place as a home ior soldier out-patients of the hospital and sokUers who are discharged, irotn hospital. Iho accommodation remaining when this first call has been met will be available as permanent lodgings ior ex-soldiers, ’ihie number of those desiring to bccqmo inmates of the hostel under "the first heading can only be. made known as the result of working experience. On T nosday, before the opening of the hostel, three applications for permanent accotn. modation had been received. The management committee consists of the Mayoress (Mrs. O, H. Burgess) and throe returned soldiers —Captain Hartnell, Mr. 15. 15. Ellcrm (secretary) and Mr. S. Burgess (treasurer). A matron has been appointed to take charge of the hostel, and.under her will be a maid. Tito hostel, which was occupied until a few months ago as a private boardingschool for girls, is pleasantly situated hi spacious grounds which border upon Devon Street \V., Cutfielcl Road and Powdcrham Street. A. visit of inspection cannot fail to convince one that the building, as now arranged internally, is vci y suitable for the purpose to which it is being put. It is double-storied. Oil the ground floor a sun-bathed verandah lies in front of the sitting, reading and writing-rooms and the dining-room which are on either side of the entrance hall. The furnishings are comfortable, but one or two finishing touches arc to be added before they will be considered complete. Accommodation for twenty men at mealtimes is provided. Ihe kitchen is confleeted with the dining-room by a server,v. and is equipped with the nceossat v convenience-,, including a gas grillcr in additien to a range. The .store-room is already well-slocked with many of the necessary goods, thanks to n donation valued at £2O Irom the firm of Messrs. Burgess. Fraser and Co. The equipment of the kitchen and storeronm, as well as of other rooms in the hostel, is not, however, quite complete. Gifts of jams and pickles and of vegetables will be welcomed to fulfil requirements until the. arrival nf the season when supplies can be made and grown respectively. Airs, J. S. S. Alcdloy is organising a “crockery tea party ’ to bo 1wl«l in Airs. Kirkby’s Kin Ora Tea Rooms on Thursday of this week. Afrs. Kirkhy lias offered tho uso of the rooms ou any Thursday afternoon do hostesses desiring to give similar aid to the Soldiers’ Hostel.

Other looms on the ground floor are to be used as an office for the matron, bedrooms for the matron, and maid, and an ante-room, fitted with washinghasius. Then there is a long wing, running out in an easterly direction, the ground Horn- of which was originally designed as class-rooms connected by folding doors. 11 is the. games room, or rooms, for by the use of the folding doors it, can he made into, one large room, over 40 feet in length, or two smaller ones. The furnishings will not hear an air of completeness until a hil-liard-tiihlc can he provided. The present furnishings, consisting of settees, lonns and iressle-tubles. have been donated by the Tramwaymen’s Union, which used to have them in a recreation room. Points are installed for three electric radiators, which have yet to be secured. The first iloor is devoted to bedrooms and bathrooms. Sixteen beds have been provided already, and there is room for several more if the need for them arises. Each bed has a cheerfully-coloured printed “bed-spread,” and eiderdown quills are also being provided. An advantage arising from the original purpose of the building Is that the bedrooms arc of such a, size that they can he occupied singly without a waste of floor space. In only two of the rooms is more than one bed placed, and another pleasing feature of the hostel is that the bedrooms, with the exception of two or three, all receive the benefit of sunshine. The house as a whole is well equipped with shelves, pegs and cupboards. The Mayoress first suggested the establishment of a Soldiers’ Hostel, and for some months past has expended a ■great deal of energy and time in pushing the matter ahead. To-daf she and her co-ryorkers have the satisfaction of contemplating the first fruits of their unremitting toil. The building and the land are held on lease for two years, with right of renewal for a third year. A number of people have been very good in donating material and their services for nse in preparing the hostel for occupation. The girls of the High School supplied •over 300 books, witli which the shelves in the reading room are stocked. An architect provided material and labour for slahfing the floors throughout the house. Future gifts of stores, veger tables or other articles of utility or ornamentation may ho left at the Mayaross’ office in the upper story of the “H. 8.” building, central Devon Street.