SLEEP IN PARKS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22474, 8 January 1943, Page 6

SLEEP IN PARKS

Soldiers In Sydney Squabble Over Hostel SYDNEY, Dec. 30. While the War Cabinet bickers over suitable premises for a hostel, soldiers on leave in Sydney are forced to sleep in parks and doorways. The position is the more exasperating because within a few weeks of their arrival the United States army authorities had commandeered one of the city’s leading clubs and converted it in five weeks into a comfortable rest centre. Arrangements for a hostel are in the hands of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Comforts Fund executive, which last July decided on a large and centrally-situated hotel as suitable premises, capable of accommodating 400 men. The plans were submitted to General Sir Thomas Blarney, Chief of the Allied Land Forces in Australia. General Blarney approved of the plans, and negotiations with the owners of the hotel proceeded satisfactorily. Delay followed delay as month after month passed and no attempt was made to pen the hostel. In October it was announced that legal difficulties had arisen over the hotel’s liquor licence. In November, a legal complication arose whether the Army could impress a building, and then hand that building over to a non-military authority to control. Then the mystery of the hold-up was solved. The War Cabinet had refused to agree to the taking over of a hotel because of the existing shortage of hotel accommodation for civilians. It suggested that efforts should be made to impress a city club’s premises. The Comforts Fund executive objected on the grounds that club premises were unsuitable because it w 7 ould mean dormitory sleeping accommodation whicH - would defeat the objects of a hostel and deprive the men of recreation rooms. Meanwhile soldiers from the country and other States found Sydney a dreary and uncomfortable place in which to spend their leave. The American centre was thrown open to them, but they had to sleep on floors, on lounges, and in passage-ways. Less fortunate were the men who dozed fitfully in parks and tram waitingsheds. Private homes were thrown open to hundreds of soldiers, but many of the men did not care to be under an obligation to strangers. All Sydney newspapers started a campaign for a quick decision and by telling stories of men who suffered discomfort on leave aroused the anger of the people. The Government will to obliged to make a decision soon or risk considerable unpopularity.