EIGHT YEARS OF PROGRESS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 84, 6 October 1910, Page 3

EIGHT YEARS OF PROGRESS.

o THE WELLINGTON V.M.C.A. ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED. In the Town Hall last evening'^ the Wellington V.M.C.A. celebrated its eighth anniversary with a public meeting, which was preceded by "Ye OldeEnglishe Tea" and a gymnastic display by pupils of Mr. Dovey's Training School. A feature of the tea was the i arrangement of the tables and the attractive costumes' worn by the lady helpers. The gathering was largely attended, especially when the meeting proper began. The president, Mr. J. G. W. Aitken, occupied the chair, and amongst ; those present were delegates to the convention. THE SPEECH-MAKING. The- chairman, referring to the late conference, described it as the most successful yet held. He felt sure that the grand movement would go on nourishing till it covered every city and town of any size in the colonies. Mr. H. N. Holmes mentioned thati six years ago there was only one paid secretary in the Dominion ; to-day the 'number of paid officials just about ran into double figures. , In a spirited address, Mr. A. Jameson, a delegate from Perth, conveyed to the meeting the greetings of Western Australia. Congratulating Wellington on its association, the speaker said that in his far-off country many of the "grand things" that had been done under this city's auspices, had been retold again and again, and he had been instructed to keep his eyes open while in these climes. The principal speaker was Mr. J. J. Virgo, national secretary. After extending his congratulations to the local institution, he spoke appreciatively of the good performance of the gymnastic pupils, stating that from what he had seen that evening, he was quite sure that in Mr. Dovey, as their future physical instructor, the association had made a splendid choice. Speaking generally, ho said that the whole Young Men's Christian Associations stood as an absolute protest against evil in any form ; against fatalistic doctrines, and against the- sceptism of the age. Indifference was the enrse of the <ige and of the Church, while sceptism broke down and retarded everything.