SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 760, 8 March 1910, Page 6

SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

; TTN'SATISFACTOIiT BUILD I> T GS. : The.'following is : the report y,.of . (3* visitor, Mr.' W.'- Allan, on ,thfl work of the Wellington. Sunday School Union:-^ "One thing, that struck me very forcibly: in, carrying' out the duties was the verjl distinct fact that the population of Wellington is fast.leaving the centre and going out to the suburbs. I observed that quite, a number of the older schools in." the centre of the city; have not now £ha attendances which a few years ago they had.. This .has had the inevitable efeci! of reducing the. numbers - attending ?tha central schools, and of reducing something of; the buoyancy which, at ono Hmft they had. On the other hand, I was very, much-' strnck with- the numbers, : th& buoyancy, and vigour in many of tha suburban schools, which a few years agohad really io existence. . I would like bear testimony to' the fact that I ob< served-in many of the . schools a numbel. of earnest , and zealous teachers who hav< borne the heat and burden of this work for many long years, [ and who are. still' to be found in' the front lino of battla, I draw attention particularly to this fact,'" as -1 feel that the younger men women of our time are not. now entering into this work iii the same proportionas was the caso in a' former generation, I am strongly convinced that our union, and the .churches as a whole will have to take some .combined-measures to pro* mote and.equip for this work our young men and : women. 1 found in the submv bail schools on the whole-a: larger pro-' portion of younger teachers than is to bs found in the more central;"schools, -and as a consequence of this'fact.l think tha work was being carried on with mow vigour anil enthusiasm. More appearance of life on the, part of the .teacher and taught. An important matter to which I would like to draw the union's attend tion, is the fact that in many of the build' ings in which . the Sunday' Schools art carried on, there' is. not the. accommodation .nor 1 the ventilation that is required - 1 so as to do the work effectively. Tha ventilation and other defects would seem'' to me responsible for what I observed; on the part of the scholars in some of these .schools, namely, that one eye was on the clock, where the clock was within vision, and the other eye on the superintendent, with apparently a strong inward desire for the stopping, time. \ In this matter J. feel sure that we could copy a ;,reat deal from .what is to be .found, in America, where the buildings-are built' simply for Sunday School purposes, and! the conditions and furnishings in the in< side of the. buildings are such as are suitable for. the work being carried on.More attention should be given in the immediate future to the building of suit- . able schools rather than'to the spending of money upon the churches themselves which certainly have had the-greater at' tention in the past. I am glad to be abla to report that on"'the whole I was much pleased with : what I saw of the workwhile there were some defects,, still much useful and good work is. being rone, the outcome of which must tend 'o the incronsuig and the enlarging of Chi istY Kingdom. 1 desire to express' regret at not being able to °have visited ill-'.thf schools- in the onion,' but tiuie and citv cumstances prevented this."