PAGEANT OF WELCOME

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 70, 16 December 1937, Page 18

PAGEANT OF WELCOME

New Y.M.C.A. Secretary “NO GREATER TASK” One hundred and fifty young men and girls, marching past in athletic attire, presented a pageant of welcome, illustrating every phase of the association’s activities, at a reception last night to the new secretary of the Wellington Y.M.C.A., Mr. Victor Jones, and Mrs. Jones. “There is no greater task given to any man or woman in the community than to help to shape the lives and destinies of our young people,” said the Minister of Finance, Hou. W. Nas.i. “Mi-, and Mrs. Jones have come to play their part in building up the young life of-this country, and I promise that as far as possible the Government will lend tliein its fullest support.” Mr. Nash said that the work of the Y.M.C.A. was of great public value. The Hon. R. Semple had said in Cabinet, in connection with Public Works camps, that no body had done more to help him eliminate drink and gambling from isolated camps than had the Y.M.C.A. “On behalf of the Government, I should like to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Jones on their appointment,” he said. The Minister of Education, Hou. P. Fraser, the mayor of Wellington, Mr. T C. A. Hislop, and the Rev. J. R. Blanchard, on behalf of the Wellington ministers of religion, also welcomed the new secretary and his wife. Secretary’s Career. The president of the Wellington Y.M.C.A., Mr. R. H, Nimmo, outlined Mr. Jones’s career and his-extensive experience of Y.M.C.A. work. “It was my privilege some few months ago,” he said, “to interview Mr. Jones in Honolulu on behalf of the board of directors here. I was profoundly im c pressed, as I know all of you will be, by his qualities of leadership, vigour and attraction of personality, and by the high commendations paid to his services by the lea Hers of the Y.M.C.A.. in Honolulu.

“Mr. Jones has had wide and varied association training and experience. He was boys’ work director ofi the Y.M.C.A. of Perth, Western Australia, whence he went to the International Y.M.C.A. College at Springfield, United States of America, completing with honours the four-year course of study and practical application, and earning the highest commendation of the faculty, including that of Mr. Edgar N. Robinson, world authority on boys’ work. During this period he distinguished himself in various wider aspects of the association programme, including community work for boys in all its branches, major camping projects, and relationships with the churches. “He returned to Perth as boys’ work director for a further period, and, upon resolving to extend his American experience still, further, he was chosen for administrative leadership in the boys’ and community work of the Honolulu Y.M.C.A., one of the most modern and most ably administered of the American associations. He was later placed in charge of Charles Atherton House, the association building for university students attached to the University of Hawaii; and has just recently vacated that institution, where incidentally Mrs. Jones was hostess, in order to come to Wellington. “Mr. Jones’s chief assistant, his former fellow staff member in Perth and personal friend of many years’ standing, is Mr. J. White, whom the board has appointed to be associate general secretary. The directors are keenly alive to the wide possibilities of extremely useful community service which can be furthered under the executive leadership of these two men, both young an'd strong in their enthusiasm for the enterprise, yet both possessing the advantage, of long and varied training.” “The Y.M.C.A. in Wellington is in a proud 'position if the public interest, devoted membership, and inter-agency relationship are criteria,” replied Mr. Jones. “But we cannot rest on our oars. There is a big job to be done, and it is up to us one and all so to develop association work that it gives many more men and boys the same privileges that we have. The Y.M.C.A. aims to contribute to the life of all men and boys, and by enlarging our facilities, giving us greater resources in leadership, programme materials, equipment, we can make a total contribution to the life of the Dominion that will be influential in the 'days to come. Christian citizenship is the need for to-day. The Y.M.C.A. accepts this challenge.”