THE BOYS' FRIEND.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14854, 20 December 1913, Page 8

THE BOYS' FRIEND.

FAREWELL TO MR W. H. BABCOCK. SIS WORK AT THE BOYS' GORDONHALL. There was a representative gathering of citizens at tho Boys' Gordon Hall yesterday, to bid farewell to Mr W. H. BabcocK, who is returning to America after four and a half years of successful supervision of the Boys' Gordon Hall work in this city. Mr J. D. Hall, chairman of the Boys' Gordon Hail Trust, presided. The Chairman stated that some five years ao, Mr Lymen L. Pearce, who had been interesting himseif in the project, had guaranteed that when he returned to America, he would get them the man they wanted. That man was Air Babcock, and the trustees thought •Mr Babcock had been an ample iuoilment of Mr Pearce's promise. The committee of management thought the present occasion a very desirable one on which to give the citizens some idea of what was being dove by the Boys' Gordon Hall, so -Mr Babcock had been asked to read his farewell report.

A FAREWELL REPORT. Tho following farewell report oy Mr Babcock was read: — To the Chairman, Boys' Gordon Hall Trust, Christchurch, N.Z. As this is to be the last meeting of your trustees beloro my departure for America, I wish to suomit a brief summary of the work of the Boys' Gordon Hall, up to the present time. Wo began work in the month of April, 1909, while tho V.M.C.A. building was being erected, studying the field, and making the acquaintance of a number of boys, and enrolling a gymnasium class during the winter, and taking possession of our largo rooms in tho building in the month of September.

The first year, the membership was barely one hundred boys, and we were experimenting with various plans and discarding many of them as unsuited to our conditions hero. For two years moro the membership grew but little; then a new arrangement was entered into which gave us less room in- the V.M.C.A. building, but more time for work in the suburbs, and money for the equipment of the branch clubs. Three of these have been conducted during the past two winter seasons, in Sydenham, Woolston, and Richmond, and , thoy have been tho means ol coming into touch with scores of boys who could never bo induced to come to the central rooms until we had first made their acquaintance in their own neighbourhood. Including those clubs, nearly three hundred different boys have been influenced directly by the influences of tho Boys' Gordon Hall during the past year, and many moro indirectly. This number means more than appears on the surface; for they are the boys who need this work most, boys who havo left school and are earning their living; less than ten per-cent, of- our membership are in school, scarcely any in primary school.

We havo always tried to keep before us tho needs of the individual boy, and to supply, when possible, any lack. We havo studied his homo influences, his school advantages, his friends, or lack of them, his work, his recreation and health, his amusements, his reading, his church connexions, and other influences which affect. character.

,We have frequently advised boys not to join this Club, when wo have found that their time was all profitably employed otherwise; for we are not seeking to build up ourselves, but the boys. We have tried to avoid doing what some other organisations may have been doing already: seeking to supplement all efforts made on behalf of the boys, and to supplant none. A policy of cooperation has been carried out, with the intention . of strengthening' the hands of every agency at work for the good of the boys; so that hundreds of boys who have not been members have nevertheless been brought into contact with the Boys' Gordon Hall. We offered the use of a room for the headquarters of the Boy Scout Movement, which brought hundreds of boys here for examinations in Scoutcraft during tho three years; boys in , _.. f - th Gr *3de Rugby .., competition, the Third Grade Association football E layers, younger cricketers, both memers and non-members, have been entertained here. Our older boys have helped to make a few pleasant evenings for the boys who sell papers, and this has resulted in the formation of a "Star" Boys' Club of sixty members, and lately of an "Evening News" Cricket Club. We have far less work in Bible Classes than is generally done by Boy.s' Clubs; but we have done more than is usually done to keep each boy coi'i.ected with his own Sunday School wherever possible. We havo had no formal educational classes for boys who have neglected their school work, but the vast majority of our members tako evening work at the Technical College; and we have established a free lending library, which is in constant use, and well managed by a committee of the boys. As a result, the Boys' Gordon Hall has come to be recognised as a city enterprise for all the boys, especially those who are leaving school to begin at work. Employers call upon us to help them •find suitable boys for good jobs; the headmasters give us every facility to become acquainted with the boys who are leaving school to begin work. Our Annual Boys' Exposition in September is open to all boys in Canterbury, and is generously subsidised by the Industrial Association. The probation officer of tho Juvenile Court depends upon us to help him in keeping some of his youthful offenders out of further conflict with the law. And perhaps best of all, the working boys of the city aro learning to regard this as their own club; members take a personal interest in the care of the rooms and equipment; and if necessary they can be left X alone for an hour without danger of furniture being broken, or games destroyed. And it is not because wo h-Ve excluded all but well-behaved boys: we have welcomed all, and moro especially thoso who seem to have littlo TSion naid to thorn But there has been established an atmosphere corresponding in some measure to school spirit," and no rules of conduct have ever been found necessary. Every boy soon comes to understand that gentlemanly conduct is what is expected of him, and that he is trusted; and in nearly every case that has been sufficient. The Committee of Management has never had to suspend from membership more than two boys. One of these left the city soon after, but the other returned and helped more than almost anyone else in making the two Hoys' Expositions a success, and was one' of tho leading members of the Mutual Improvement Club last year. This last-named Society is mado up of elder Icjs from our membership and a few young men from the V.M.C.A., who study elocution and music under the direction of Mr F. C. Atkinson and others, and has given a number of concerts for our members and also for tho Sailors Institute at Lyttelton, for C_*ii_h guilds, etc. During tho past year we hare begun a system by which we hop© to know in a few years the main facts about every working boy in the city. We get from the headmasters the name and address of every boy who had left the primary schools last year, and all those who had not entered secondary schools were looked up, in most cases a visit being paid to their homes, and many boys were placed in more suitable employment, and a few persuaded to take un evening .eho-l work as a result. TT-is year we began earlier, and the plan has been approved by the Board of Governors of the Technical Collego and the .North Canterbury Board of Education.

both of which bodies havo mado grants of money to enable us to employ an assistant for six weeks, and leave mc free to devote mv time to this work. I visit each school and meet tho boys who are about to leave; talking to them a few minutes upon the advantage of going to school longer if possible, and getting the name and address of each, his age, and what he intends to do after leaving primary school. Then 1 call at the homes of all those who are not sure of going to secondary school, and talk with the parents about the boys' future, in some cases finding it possiblo to persuade the parents (and lhe boy) to continue his work iv school, aud always meeting with a cordial reception from the, parents, who welcome any counsel as to employment, and the prospects in different linos of work.

Four years of this work will result in having on our list tho names and considerable data about almost all tho boys between fourteen and eighteen years of ago. Your Trust began some five years ago with an endowment. Tho endowment still remains intact, and in addition you havo a Boys' Club work established in the public confidence, and with methods which have been thoroughly tried and adapted to local conditions; you have an alliance with the Young Men's Christion Association, which ought to be of permanent benefit to both, giving them a boys' work director whose salary is provided for by the Trust, and giving the Trust an excellent organisation into which to graduate members, and from which to secure honorary helpers for the boys' work, not to mention the sources of information and of training afforded, by such a world-wide organisation. You have, finally a man of great promise to take up the work in the autumn; a Christchurch man, with all the advantages of a native of tffe country, and an excellent opportunity and experience. Until Mr "Velvin returns from Pittsburgh, U.S.A., the work will be in the capable hands of Mr R. D. Baker, of Wellington, who is already getting well initiated into tho work.

In conclusion, let mo thank the trustees for their call to this work, whose rewards are far greater than mv efforts would warrant. The friendshfp of the hundreds of boys here is of inestimable value to mc, and tho experience gained during these years should be an important factor in the work to which I am returning. I exnect to hear of a steadily widening and deepening work among boys here. Your Trust will be able to keep one man in the city whose business it will be to help everyone who is helping boys. Such a- man may well become tho specialist who will be called in for consultation by parents and employers, teachers, pastors or police, or anyone who is perplexed about "that boy,"'and seekingthe help of a man whose business it is to know. TRIBUTES TO MR BABCOCK. Tho Mayor (Mr H. Holland) said Mr Babcock's work in Christchurch was tho very highest ideal any man could devote his talents to. Boys at a very impressionable age just needed tho assistance of a man like Mr Babcock. Mr Babcock was pre-eminently adapted for the work ho had taken up, and he had won the respect and esteem of all he had come in contact .with.

Mr J. H. Howell, Director of the Christchurch Technical College, remarked that what had struck him very forcibly, was that at a recent boys' social in th© V.'M.C.A. hall, whenever Mr Babcock's name was mentioned, there flashed on every face a look not only of pleasure, but of affection. He hoped that at some -future day perhaps not as director of the Boys' Gordon Hall, they might yet have Mr Babcock back in New Zealand with them again. (Applause.) Thero was so much to be done amongst the country boys and girls. If they could get Mr Babcock back again in this country, they might come some day to Bolving the problem of how to keep people on land, and so prevent those great social problems which were prevailing in the Old World through people crowding into tho towns.

Mr W. Goss said he had been connected with the' committee of management ever since tho beginning, and he had therefore seen a good deal of the work. Mr Babcock had done. He' thought the reason why Mr Babcock had done so much for tlio boys was because he loved the boys. If Mr Babcock, could, as Mr "Howell suggested, bo brought back to New Zealand at some not far distant date, this country would benefit as a whole.

Mr J. R. Sinclair, chairman of the Committee of Management, heartily endorsed the remarks made by the previous speakers. Mr Babcock had laid the foundation of the Boys' Gordon Hall work.truly and well, and it was now only necessary for them to carry on the work he had started. PRESENTATIONS. An illuminated address was then presented to Mr Babcock by Master R. Calvert, on behalf of the boys. Mr Babcock briefly responded. The Chairman then presented Mr Babcock with a puree of sovereigns and a letter of appreciation of his services, drawn up in artistic form. This lettor, the chairman stated, had been signed by the Committee of Management, and it was desired that all those present should also sign it. In making the presentation, Mr Hall said they had never dono a better thing than when they secured Mr Babcock. He hoped Mr Babcock would come hack to New Zealand and assist in the work they were going to do mthe country districts. (Applatlse.*)" They wera going to make a _tart-bn it, and they hoped Mr Babcock, with the experience he would gain in America, would come back, as they wanted him very badly. Mr Babcock, in expressing his thanks for the presentations, said he hoped they would be as kind to his successor as they had been to him. His reasons for going back to America were his wife and three children. He did not think he would permanently hurt the work by leaving it; he was being succeeded by a most capable man. Upon the call of the Mayor, a resolution of thankß was accorded the Committee of Management of the Boys' Gordon Hall for their work.