MAORI HOSTEL

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 August 1948, Page 4

MAORI HOSTEL

£lO,OOO BUILDING AT ROTORUA TO BE OPENED THIS MONTH Work on a modern guest-house for out-of-town Maoris visiting their relatives and friends ,in the Rotorua Hospital is nearing completion. The house will have five small and five double bedrooms. Built under a scheme sponsored by the Women’s Health League, the building is to be named The Janet Fraser Memorial GueM / ouse, after the late wife of the Prime Minister. Mrs. Fraser was the league’s first patroness. The official opening will be performed by Mr. Fraser on August 28. Visiting Maoris, who were often forced by the lack of accommodation to sleep in a tribal meeting house or in the open, will be able to obtain a bed and breakfast at a reasonable cost in a well-appointed house adjacent to the hospital. The tariff has been fixed at 10s a day and the maximum length of stay of any guest will be three days. The cost of the building, about £lO,OOO, has been contributed by various Maori organisations, the Maori Land Board, and the Government. The contract was let by the Public Works Department. ±\e furnishings will cost an additional £2OOO and this sum has been raised by the Women’s Health League, ’ which will own the guest house and also hold a lease in perpetuity of the land. Leading elders of the North Island tribes are to be the guests of the Arawa people at the opening ceremony. The league, which has its 12th anniversary in September, has advanced the time of its annual conference to coincide with the opening.