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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10 (March 21, 1927)

Hostel For Railway Cadets. — A Progressive Departure

page 8

Hostel For Railway Cadets.
A Progressive Departure.

As a further means of assisting new cadets joining the Service to become trained in right habits and ways so that they may become efficient railwaymen, the Department has opened a hostel in Wellington at which all cadets entering the Service who have not their homes in the capital city will be able to live during the four months of their training at the Railway Training and Correspondence School attached to the Head Office.

The Hostel will be under the control of Mr. M. L. Bracefield, Officer-in-Charge of the Training School, Mrs. Bracefield acting as matron, The building purchased for the accommodation of the boys is a thoroughly good one in a handy locality and is being equipped in a suitable style.
Railway Hostel for Cadets, Fitzherbert Terrace, We'lington.

Railway Hostel for Cadets, Fitzherbert Terrace, We'lington.

Supplies of food will be obtained through the Refreshment Branch. It has been decided that the charge per week for boys residing at the Hostel will be 25/-, a sum which is considerably lower than that at which accommodation and board of equal quality can be obtained in the city. The main advantage of the Hostel, apart from the difficulty which boys frequently experience in finding suitable accommodation within the range of their purses, and one which appealed particularly to the Railway Board, was that the influence on the moral outlook and duty towards their life's work which the Training School specially sets out to implant, was liable to be lost through the removal of these influences when boys, separated from their homes, had to take their chance at what were frequently inferior page 9 or unsuitable boarding houses for youths of from 15 to 17 years of age. Another point in this connection was that parents were reluctant to have their boys exposed to the risks of city life. These risks will now be eliminated because the boys will be under the constant supervision of their teachers. The idea is to run the Hostel much on the lines of those established in connection with secondary schools in various parts of the Dominion. Sport and pastime will receive due prominence in the course of training these youths. In their Training School they have a certain amount of home-work set them; the boarders will do this in a preparation period arranged at the Hostel. It is felt that the new establishment will assist further in the direction of obtaining for the Department a still better type of youth and, once obtained, that their preliminary training will be still more effectually carried on because of the continuous supervision under which each will be during the period of probation.
Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Bracefield, in charge of Railway Hostel.

Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Bracefield, in charge of Railway Hostel.