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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 17, No. 19. September 17, 1953

Two Milestones

page 4

Two Milestones

In this issue there are featured two separate matters; one concerns the Rugby Football Club, and the other, the Students' Union Building. It is fitting that both' topics should receive fullest coverage in this issue, for each represents an achievement, and we would do well to consider what each means, and what the story of each has to offer.

It is not the success which the Rugby Club has attained which is important so much as the manner in which it has attained it; so to, with the collective effort of the students in their endeavour to provide future students of a building worthy of them.

One can only admire the drive and vigour with which the Rugby Club has set about each task which has lain ahead of it. Perhaps the enthusiasm of the members is brought about by the fact that it is, comparatively speaking, a small, and closely knit body, perhaps because its objectives have been more immediate, perhaps, because in its lean years its leaders had the spirit and determination to keep things alive and moving in readiness for brighter days ahead; yet there must have been many of them, who lead and worked for the club in the past who could never see an open road ahead. But the drive which is the hallmark of the club today, is not something which has sprung up overnight. It has been with them for many, many years.

Off the field of play they have set themselves to the task of building a gymnasium. They have set about this task with a certainty of purpose which alone makes it inevitable "that they should succeed. They rely on, and receive, the fullest support and co-operation of their members, many of whom will never see the new building. And this is the lesson we must learn.

You have before you today the site plans for the new Students' Union Building;" this is an achievement which crowns many years of consistent work; yet, today, at the very time when final success is so close at hand, the fire of enthusiasm has died down until the flame is lower than it has ever been before. We are doing very little (if indeed, we are doing anything), to add to the wholly inadequate funds at our disposal for the erection of this building: as a consequence, we are in danger of throwing away the greater part of our achievement. Because our funds are inadequate, we are already considering ways of reducing the new building to its minimum requirements, rather than seeking to add to the fund 30 that the building will not become as useless for its purpose in thirty years as the present gym is today.

One difficulty which confronts us is the fact that if we draw attention to possible differences in the new building, we are met with the answer that at the present time we are only considering site plans and not the layout and content of the new building; that we should leave these other problems until the more immediate question has been decided.

But the layout and content of the building could have direct bearing on the matter of the site. At present, the width of area which the new building is to take up is determined by the fact that it is to contain a gymnasium of a minimum required width. Therefore, if the gymnasium were to be erected separately, the building could be narrower, and could more conveniently be fitted into a given area. It might, for example, mean that site D could be chosen without interfering permanently with more than one tennis court; this fact itself, could have a direct bearing on the site which is finally chosen.

A general suggestion which we have to offer, is that the Union Building be erected, without a gymnasium, on site D, and that a separate gymnasium be erected on the site of the present one, and be linked to the Union Building. A point to be noted, too, is that the present estimated width of the building docs not allow for the originally planned spectator space in the gym itself. Besides cutting down on the revenue producing aspect of the gymnasium, this could well be a permanent impediment for the future.

One conclusion we can reach. If the value of the building is not to be permanently impaired, we must either construct one with full facilities for such things as are catered for at all, with room for extension to take in other facilities, as funds become available, or else we must have a lot more money, and quickly. What we must avoid at all costs is providing a little of everything, and not enough of anything. This seems to be the present danger.

—F.L.C.