ORPHANAGE'S YEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 196, 21 August 1933, Page 9

ORPHANAGE'S YEAR.

EFFECT OF UNEMPLOYMENT. REPORT OF ST. JOSEPH'S. A reflex of the economic trouble is shown in the increased number of boys housed in St. Joseph's Boys' Orphanage, Takapuna', last year. The figures were given in the review of the year's work on Saturday afternoon. Among those present were: Bishop Liston, Archdeacon Holbrook, the Hon. E. W. Alison and Mr. J. Guiniven, Mayor of Takapuna. In presenting the annual report on behalf of Mother Josephine, Archdeacon Holbrook said that usually there had been about 55 or 60 boys in the home, but in the past year the institution had had to harbour 25 or more children of workless parents, bringing the total to over 85. This year, perhaps as the result of a brightening in the economic position, the number had been reduced again to about 65, but the resources of the institution were still being strained. The large majority of the boys in the home were a direct charge on the diocese. By good management, gifts from friends, and their home's own farm scheme, the weekly cost of keeping each boy had been reduced to 8/, and their health had been of a very high standard. The school work also "had been good. The annual statement of accounts showed that there was a deficit of £37$ in the past year. Receipts had totalled £1216, including £344 from parents' payments, and £308 from the Child Welfare Department, but expenditure had amounted to £1794. Bishop Liston said it was wonderful to see the way Mother Josephine and the sisters were making the orphanage a home in the truest sense of the word. "Neverthe'less,*we still feel that the very best place for the upbringing of a. child is in a private Christian home," said the Bishop. "We make an appeal to Catholics in suitable circumstances, particularly in the country districts, to take up the personal love and care of some of these orphans who form a responsibility lying on us all." ♦ Mr. E. W., Alison praised the great work of the sisters at the orphanage. "I have seen children come ill, dejected and forlorn into this home, and I have eeen them transformed within the space of a few months," he added. -

A number of other speakers made eulogistic references to the work of the sistel's and the fine manner in which the orphanage was conducted.