THE Y.M.C.A. OAMPAING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 24, 23 October 1907, Page 6

THE Y.M.C.A. OAMPAING.

The collecting campaign which has becE-,conclucted for some days past'by the local branch of the Young Men's Christian Association comes to a close to-day. Although the appeal for funds for the completion of the Association's building has met with a generous response, the suin collected _ is still far short of the ,£7OOO, which it was hoped would be subscribed in seven days. About half of that sum is still .re-quired,-and a special effort is therefore necessary if any considerable proportion of the shortage is to-be nia'de up. Nobody can rightly complain of any want of liberality in the Wellington public, for a very large sum was gathered in a quite recent campaign by the Association. But there must remain u good many citizens who "would subscribe their- portion if they realised the value of the new institution. The Association does not submit itself for

public approval on purely moral grounds alone. It is, as we have' pointed out before, a counteractive to the slackness and degeneracy of modern youth, and, by supplying means of wliolesomeness to our young men, it is serving the interests , of commerce and trade, which are always in need of capable and energetic recruits. Upon less strictly utilitarian grounds the Association's new building deserves the support of the parents of.boys who are growing into young manhood. The larger and wider the Association's operations become, the greater becomes the chance that a youth will avail himself of its assistance, and the new building project is accordingly a near concern of air parents who feel any anxiety for their sons. The Association deserves to meet with. a specially generous response to to-day's canvass; and it is to be hoped that,' even if the full sum of £7000 .ia not collected, sufficient will be received to make it easy to open the building free of dobt;