Shorter Notices
Hostels for Old People. (Friends Book Centre. Is. 6d.) IN a population which, the statisticians tell us, is rapidly ageing, more thought must be given to the happiness and comfort of the old than has hitherto been done. The disappearance of the patriarchal system has thrown many of them on their own resources, which, even if adequate financially, are meagre in other respects. This pamphlet, based on four years' experience of running evacuation hostels, is a practical and sympathetic contribution to the subject. " The main problems of the elderly," it states, " are loneliness and neglect." Among the many points made are: all staircases to be fitted with handrails at both sides ; the possibility of a glimmer of light through the night in bedrooms ; avoidance of "too great a desire for neatness and order . . . a happy disorder is better for old people than regi- mentation " ; no segregation of men from women—" a mixed hostel . . . conduces to a higher standard of behaviour and appearance " ; too little rather than too much control ; the fostering of independence by encouraging residents as long as possible to handle their own money, make their own payments to the hostel, and take some share in the work. Appendices give detailed lists of standard basic equip- ment required, a draft form of application, and complete estimates for running a hostel for 20. With the staff at the recommended ratio of I to 5, the cost works out at 35s. a week a head of the residents. Here is a field that seems to invite consideration from philanthropists.
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