WORK OF Y.M.C.A.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20918, 27 July 1933, Page 17

WORK OF Y.M.C.A.

* UNEMPLOYED BOYS IN ENGLAND. GENEROSITY OF I'KINCE OF WALES. While on a visit to England recently Mr F. C. Main, general secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association at Napier, was greatly impressed with the popularity of the Prince of Wales and the invaluable example he was setting in Hie way of alleviating distress among the unemployed of the Old Land. Mr Main arrived in Christchurch yesterday to visit old friends and incidentally assist the Christchurch association in its financial work. He was in the Cathedral at Napier when the disastrous earthquake occurred, and suffered severely, and he has just returned to the Dominion from a voyage of recuperation. Although most of his time overseas was spent in a search for renewed health, he had the leisure to observe world affairs, and he speaks of them interestingly. "The Napier association," he told a representative of "The Press" yesterday, "has had a decidedly rough time 011 account of the lack of money wherewith to pursue its activities, but a fine spirit of optimism obtains, and it is hoped to continue the work, full time, in the very near future. Actually Napier is a 'Government town' at present, for almost everyone is existing on Government mortgages. However, rehabilitation work has been so well carried out that to-day the town presents a vastly different appearance from its former configuration. Rebuilding- of Napier. On my return to Napier it took jne four or five days to realise just exactly where I was. All the new buildings are going ahead on the latest principles, and the marine parade is now a remarkably fine area. Flowers and trees have been planted, and a new open-air theatre is being built. Tennis courts and bowling greens also arc proposed to occupy what was before a mass of stones. No Time for Communism. Association work in England was going ahead rapidly, and everything possible was being done for unemployed boys, he Continued. It was a work of concentration. There was one man in England who was being lauded up and down the country for his fine example and work of encouragement—■ the Prince of Wales. He was giving away the largest proportion ol his estate in Cornwall to help unemployed boys and men. Naturally he was not at all in the good books of the communists. for he was undoing all that they stood for, but the general mass of the populace had little time for communism. Recently he had made a fine speech, a portion of which was printed on hoardings all through the country. It asked all persons in work to find a few hours of work for the unemployed or to give a little, no matter how small, to the less fortunate. "Actually I saw really few signs of distress in England," said Mr Main. "No doubt there is a vast number of unemployed, and it is certain that the majority would rather work than be on the dole. There has been a great wave of optimism. Car manufacturers, for instance, are working overtime, and every week they are taking on more men. At Barrow in Furness, the ship-building yards are unusually busy, and the firm of Vickers-Arm-strong has eight ships on order. This shows that there must be a definite improvement in financial conditions. There is a strong opinion in England that if the Government, were to build one or txvo"battleships, even if they had to be used as target-practice for the Royal Navy, the work found for the unemployed would make them much happier than merely living on the dole."