A CLUB FOR GIRLS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 133, 3 December 1906, Page 7

A CLUB FOR GIRLS.

A FRIENDLY ORGANISATION. There is a club for girls in Wellington, but it is not a- place where the cigaxette or liqueurs will be seen. Only girls of good character can enjoy the privilege of membership ; if they fall from grace they must surrender their card. This institution is the Wellington Girls' Friendly Society, which has a lodge in Vivian-street, and has Lunches at Petone and Bul'.s. "One of the strictest rules," said Miss Greenwood, a member of the committee, on Satuiday morning, "is that no girl can be admitted as a member who does not bear a blameless character. The society has nothing to do -nith rescue work ; it exists for binding together girls of high character, independently of their religious denomination." Briefly, tue society is a club for respectable girls. The main objects are:— "(1) To bind together in one society women and girls as associates and members for mutual help (religious and secular), sympathy and prayer. (2) Specially to encourage purity of life, dutifulness to employers, und habits of thrift generally. (3) To provide the privileges of tho society to members, wherever they may be, by giving them an introduction from one branch to another, and this not only from one part of the colony to another, but commending members also to other parts of the worl^ where a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society exists." This beneficent movement began in England in 1875; and spon began to spread through the Empire, and oven through Europe. To-day the total number of associates, members and candidates is estimated at over 330,000, of which number New Zealand claims about 1500. It is about twenty years since Lady Jervois founded the Wellington Lodge. The membership, which now stands at about seventy, has not reached a figure that might have been expected, but there are signs that reinforcements will arrive now that the splendid advantages of the institution arc becoming more widely known. The Wellington society has done good out of all proportion to its size. Many a girl, a stranger in a strange land, has had reason to be grateful for tho presence of the house in Vivianstreet. A glance at the last report proves this. "Girls and young women," it is stated, "have again been received from all parts of the British Empire, and niany of those who have taken advantage of the reduced emigration rates have passed through the lodge. Miss Ashcroft has shown herself most indefatigable in meeting steamers and attending to various commendatory letters from both the G.F.S. and the British Women's Emigration Society. This is a very real part of ths work n Character not creed is the badge of ordinary membership, though associates are expected to belong to the Church of England. In Wellington the society is supported by subscriptions from the associates, members' fees (which are only a shilling or two each a year), and receipts from boarders at the lodge. The report mentions that "the lodge continues under the excellent management of Miss Rix, who is still able to keep down the charges to 10s a week for members and 123 for non-members, notwithstanding the advanced rates of prices in Wellington." This accommodation must indeed be a boon to many ; it is available only for girls and women of irreproachable reputation. t j #ne sjrll&bus for th<> ctini«nt<3rpai'!ipf eludes Metanesian -work arid Bible study, sewing, special classes, liome nursing, and social evenings. Altogether, the ! girls have every facility to pass time pleasantly and profitably while well, and when they are sick they are not forI gotten, for they have a lady to visit j them. Wellington is the only city in Ncvr Zealand that has a. lodge, though other centres have flourishing societies, but it is anticipated that a similar house will be established soon at Auckland.