GIFT OF 4 £l500.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20920, 29 July 1933, Page 10

GIFT OF 4 £lsoo.

♦ j NEW METHODIST j ORPHANAGE. | WORK WILL NOW PROCEED, j i i "When recently representatives of the Methodist Orphanage Board waited on the Hon. Adam Hamilton (Minister for Employment) asking for a 50 per cent, instead of a 33 1-3 per cent, subsidy towards the ■ erection of a new orphanage at ; Papanui, the Minuter replied that ' he could not see his way to grant the request, as funds subscribed to the Unemployment Board were ' primarily for the relief of distress. ' The difficulty confronting the mem- ; bers of the orphanage board who ' desired ,to proceed with the work at once has now been removed ' through the gift of £ 1500, by an Auckland woman, to make up the difference. "By this munificent gift to sup- ' plement the subsidy of 33 1-3 per 1 cent, of the amount of the wages l paid, the orphanage board, which . will meet on Wednesday next, will I be recommended by a special subcommittee to proceed at once with : the erection of the building, sub- ' ject to receiving the lower subsidy/' I said the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, to . a representative of "The Press" lata . yesterday afternoon. "The giver," he said, : 'is Mrs Raymond Cavighey Preston, who was. interested in the 1 enterprise by the treasurer of the 5 orphanage, Mr George B'Xvron. He ' set forth the position -aat the fin- : ances of the board vould not permit , of proceeding with the scheme at this time unless an amount of ap- ; proximately £ 1500—representing 5 ths difference between a subsidy of t 33 1-3 per cent, and one of 50 per r cent., was received." Many Benefactions. Mrs Caughey Preston, said Mr Pratt, at once undertook to give the - amount mentioned. She had made ; many benefactions to Auckland ini stitutions, and she and her brother, I Mr Andrew C. Caughey, presented , an orphanage at Auckland to the Methodist Church. Subsequentlv Mrs Preston, who was then the 1 widow of the senior partner in the 3 firm of Smith and Caughey, erected , a hospital and later a chapel at . Wesley College, Paerata, in memory t of dead relatives. The orphanage scheme at Papanui will involve an expenditure of * approximately £22,000, and already » about £3OOO has been spent in ac--1 quiring the site of 11 acres and in 1 laying out the grounds. The board - has in hand £16,250, which has been accumulating for the last 19 years. A 33 1-3 per cent, subsidy from the Unemployment Board will , amount to about £2500, and it is * expected that another £250 will re- ; suit from the stone-laying ceremony. This leaves a deficiency of \ £3OOO. half of which, will be met jI by Mrs Preston's gift. However, the board, will still need another " £ 1500 to open the building free of * debt. Grounds Laid Out. t At the end of May the laying out ,* of the grounds was well forward. r The plans for the building provide i for two wings for the boys and girls 1 with an administrative block in the centre. It is proposed to erect two - storeys in reinforced concrete, the 2 associated architects being Messrs t G. T. Lucas and W. M. Lawry. Ths t old orphanage accommodates about f 60 children, but there is a pressing i need for increased accommodation. ■ The new building will house 100 - children. It has been estimated by . Mr Bowron that the average annual r maintenance for children in all ■ orphanages throughout New Zea- \ land is about £3O. The orphanage is supported entirely by contribu- | tions and the responsibility for its * upkesp has been placed on the i church. I The new orphanage is to be I erected in Harewood road opposite the site of the present home.