HELPING "JACK."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 720, 20 January 1910, Page 6

HELPING "JACK."

A,VISITPB i I'KOJi: CHATHAM. >•: ■'.' "'They all' iove ' Jacki":'is thev.Tefrain of a-popular song; but.to'o often-the ;affection. is :rather :sentimental than /useful. The Navy House, Chatham, England,: loves' Jack tb'sb'nie purpose; if or, like the Navy League; and Seamen's Mission ' in; this. city, it endeavours to. taie good care.of hiniin'his leisure hours, and.Keephim off- the -street. The;,warden of',,the Navy House, the <Rev. Hon. R. J. Garde 'Buller, .loves Jack so 'etfectuttfly • that he; is unable'to take' a holiday f and ■ forget him. After; eight years', work -in 'charge' of Navy House, .Mr. Buller has come out on a visit to New Zealand for his health's sake;. Ho only arrived'yesterday,'and. Dominion'representative found ■ him v already planning how he could help Jack even at a distance.' He will.. probably v give lectures with' a view \ to" raising funds 'to .'.extend .'the usefulness of >the Chatham institution; whose : workv has grown apace and now demands increased accommodation. ■.. ': i; ■ -;:, ; ; . ..,..;•

Apart: from philanthropic arid. religious motives, Mr; Buller holds strongly that, the man;behind the gun is'fully, as important, as a national .asset, as the gun itself,' even though it be the Jafet, most .improved ; gun .turned out ,by' ArmstfbngS;: And.the man behind the gun is y in danger' of, deteri6ration;wheh ho.is left.to his, own devices on'shoro. The: work of the Navy House, therefore,;' is ■ a '• work of patriotism, no less than of philanthropy. The House is run by a'committee consist-■ ing '.of the Bishop of'. Rochester, clergy (both '■' naval and civil), private Kentlemen, and men of the lower deck.,jit has an impressive list of patrons,' headed by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Mr. Buller, it appears from- a report of the institution,-in 1901 relinquished' a positionlbf considerably more value .to'accept ■the wardenshipwith a nominal salary!of ;E4O per annum. The growth of the institution's workis shown by the fact that in 1908 it attracted over' 100,000 • sailors,' and nearly, 30,000 naval men booked beds''at sixpence 'a night. -~ ;,The gunnery ..school; hns. lately'been transforred : from-Sheer-, ness to Chatham, and;this;has, brought; some hundreds more men into the port , For these moro, dormitories are needed, and a hall is also required in which rev ligious and temperance meetings can be' held., Mr. Buller states .that it.is only for. bnilding and initial expenses that tho House'■has to sook funds. . Jack, does all the upkeep, himself;- ~ '■. ■■, ■•'■ ■