SIR JOSEPH WARD AND THE CHILDREN.

Evening Star, Issue 14627, 25 July 1911, Page 10

SIR JOSEPH WARD AND THE CHILDREN.

DUNEDIN 'STAR'S' 6,000 GUESTS. NEW ZEALAND DAY IN EPPING FOREST. HAPPY CORONATION OUTING. [Feom Our Lady Cohrespondeot:.] "London, June 16. 1 am sitting on a fallen eini tree in Epping Forest writing this, surrounded by a thousand boys and girls that, through New Zealand generosity, are spending today in the country. No less' than 6,000 children are to be entertained during the Coronation season out of the fund raised by the Dunedin ' Star.' and to-day, the first " New Zealand Day," the initial batch has been brought from Bethnal Green and Whitechapel (names that will have instant significance for those readers who know London's slums) to this glorious old forest. Would that I could dip my pen in magic and make you see the scene! It is a day of brilliant sunshine, and from my shady nook I am looking on to a huge grassy space where a thousand little people, some of them in costumes that would mako the mothers among you weep, are playing and shouting at the top of their young lungs. Skipping ropes and hoops, 'have been provided; the girls in cue spot are running races (for prizes provided by the teachers), and in a far corner of the green a group of boys and a couple of masters are playing cricket. Everyone is very, very happy—there isn't the least doubt of that—and when one reflects what ninepeTice—-for that is what each child costs—in more 'civilised quarters will not buy. it is a still greater marvel to see how great a treat it gives these little folks—something like 12 hours' country holiday and plenty of food ! "The method of organising, outings such as these is exceedingly interesting. A Freeh Air fund inspector-—a jolly old exsergeant of the jiietro]K>litan jMilice—awaited the children, who were marched this morning to Bethnal Green Junction. Here ho assumed command of the expedition, though the teachers still remained in charge of individual batches. Eight hundred of to-dav's children are from the. Hague Street 'School, and 200 from St. Bartholomew's, a church school —both London County Council institutions. These by no means represent the number of pupils in the schools, but the treat was limited to a thousand, and pad little groups had to be left hehinJ. —A Marvel of Organisation.— A scene more absolutely different from, anything in far away New Zealand than that outside the dingy little railway station this morning it would be hard to picture. .Mothers galore —and such mothers!—assembled to see their olive branches start; and the noise when, all were grouped in a foul-smelling, dark street, and the women were shouting injunctions to their children, watt appalling. " Old right, lovey, . don't 'oiler!" was the reply made by ono' woman when the inspector told her to stand back out of the children's way. The children, by tho rules of school, must bo decently clean, however poorly dressed, hut no rules bind the mothers, and a sorry-looking crowd they appeared, with hair m "curlers," .shabby old shawls round their shoulders, and heads guiltless of covering. The majority held grubby little parcels in their arms, that turned out on inspection to be babies. "How do you pick your children for each outing?"' I asked the genial inspector, and was told that the L.C'.C. grant a special day's holiday when the Fresh Air Fund has Minic.irnt money to ta.ke, tho children out. This hj. considered a bettor | plan than taking them in holiday time, when teachers are, of eourfe. not available ,

to take charge. Each child has a given cardboard badge slung round it.s neck, on which its name, and instructions are written, and delinite direction!-, fur finding itself if any accident should occur. Keija.rduig accident*. I am told that in too twenty years of the Funds existence, they have, happily, been conspicuous only by their absence.

Once through the barrier at the station the childron formed seven deep in a. queue, and as each carriage on the special train holds 14. the embarkation was a matter of not ten minutes. After bail' an hour's train journey Loughton, the station for the Fotv.-t, was reached, and from the rotation it is only about- fifteen minutes' slow walk to the Shaftesbury Retreat - the Home of lite Fresh Air Rnid just within the Forest. —The Xew Zealand Flag .Flying.— To-day the Xew Zealand Flag waves gaily above the* entrance gate, and long lines of bunting cover the front of the various buildings, where- the children ate given their meals-, and where, when it is wot. they can amuse themselves all day. The absence of rule« is admirable, and &ays much for the discipline maintained in the. school*!. There are no special injunctions as to what may not be done, and the manner in which the children seem inMantly to feel that, they own the forest, the wild roses and bracken, a.nd the open sky—far from grime and factory chimneys. and the shuns that spell home—is worth a visit alone.

They are Mich jolly little mites, too. all anxious to make friends and toll one all their iiifiiiitctdiual joys. The real East End denizen, when small, is, unlike those of just a strata higher, remarkably candid, and so full of interast. They're not at all shy. and have plenty of plans to dirulce it one cares to listen. "Wli'i* are you going to be when you leave St. Bartholomew's':"' I've just asked a long, thin jvrsnn. with one elbow sticking through his coat, who cam? over and sat down beside mo on the Mump after a friendly preliminary as to the time.

" Butcher.'' he said instantly. "You have to get ui? before three in the morning, and T like that. Then yon can make money, too."

"I'm going a sailor when I'm 21," a pitifully-garbed urchin told mo. "'Got io do something else till then, though."

"What do you know about the sea - '" I queried, knowing that fioine of these ehi.- j dren. though they live a stone's throw from | the station, have to-day travelled in a train for the fii'M- time. j He withered me with a kind of good- j Tiaturf.il tolerance. i "We've got bath.- near our school and j I've learned f.wirmning,'' he said, as evi- j denllv conclusive evidence that the old; ocean holds no ten-ors for him. i "How do they manage to dress so elahc- I ratelv?" I asked Mr Kessell, the honorary secretary of the fresh air fund, who came ' down this afternoon. I asked the que.s- : tion because I'd ji;M been talking to a child , in a. pink print frock with a. red, white, and ' blue simbouuet on. and three-quarters of : the wav down its "skirt" a brown belt, j Boots, 'shoes, and stockings wctc only tit j for a Xew Zealand rag bag. and the con- ; trast bet ween feet and bodies was notice- ; able. , I

"Oh, for clays pa.it they've l>een borrow- i injr from everyone who'd lend." Mr Kes- : sell answered.' "The real slumito is as I generous a being a.s you can find anywhere, i and this, you must'remember, is the day | of a Year to these children " One of the teachers confirmed this later. ; "It took all my authority to get any: work ont of then) yesterday."' she said; I '•their brains could* only think of one thing." | —Much Appreciated "Grub."— \ A large and rsnlvstantial meat pie was ' "iven each child at noon, and at tea. at ! 4 o'clock, unlimited cups of tea and a. large i round sort, of scone-cake affair that it would take a. robust grown-up to get through lor one meal. At tea time, to the unbounded delight of the little guests a \avty of New Zealanders interested in the scheme came down to the Forest specially to see the children, Mr ! Whitela-w, the London representative of the 'Evening Star, 'and his wife receiving j them. U was a prottv scene to see all the , thousand children salute the New Zea- j landers, who stood watching them as they j marched past. <, Tho teachers offered the sjime compli- j ment, and the liveliest disappointment was | evident when it was made known that Sir j Joseph Ward had been unable to leave the

conference for sufficient time to undertake the journey. The Prime Minister, however, sent the following letter to Mx Whitelaw, and this, when read out to the youngsters, was received with a burst of cheering that -was absolutely deafening. So did the little throat* yell with enthusiasm that I actually caw .some of them holding their hands over their own ears. —Sir Joseph's Letterwas as follows: I shall be glad if you will convey to the children who are. assembled at Epping Forest to-day my beet wishes for a very happy time for all of them. This is essentially a New Zealand day, and it is through the kindness of friends separated from the Homeland by 12,000 miles of ocean'that the little ones are able to have a pleasant day's outing in Epping Forest. 'There are many who are thinking of them in far-off New Zealand at the moment, and it is on their behalf, as well as on my own, that I send a message of good-will and kindly greetings to the children.—Yours sincerely, J. Ward. Some of the children's questions about New Zealand were extraordinary in these enlightened days. Not one of ad I questioned had ever even heard of New Zealand, and when ono bright-looking girl was told by Miss Seddom that if she cut a hole through from where, she stood in the Forest she would probably find herseli somewhere near New Zealand, asked several things about it, then said : " If they're right on the other side of the world do" they do everything the wrong wav round?" I What, New Zealand children are like, | what they do, etc., were matters of intense moment to them. Undoubtedly from to-day onwards New Zealand becomes a place nearer and dearer to at least a. thousand little British citizens, and there are 5,000 still to come. Sir William Hall-Jones, who hoped to j have come down, sent a telegram instead regretting thai he was too busy to get J away, hut- wishing all the children a pleaj bant holiday. ! New ZealandeTS who journeyed to tho. Forest to see the children were Mrs R. J. Scddon. Miss Mary Seddon. Miss M. Baiichop (sister of Lieutenant-colonel Bauchop), Mrs J. F. Clapperton (Dunedin), Mrs ITaggitt (Fcdding). Mrs Eraser (Dun- | edin). Mrs Gabites (Timaru). Mr William 1 Davidson (Dunedin), Mrs Henry Cooper, Mr and Mts J. P. Whitelaw, and Mr Ernest Kossel! (Hon. secretary of the fresh air fund). —New Zealand Subscribers in London.— A few New Zeaianders in London, most of them Dunedinitce, were invited to coni tribute to the funds of the Coronation outI ing. and the following subscriptions were I received at our London office, 134 Fleet I street, bv Mr J. P. Whitelaw:—Mr W. [ Dawson, "£10; Mr W. Scoular, 10s; Mrs J. F. Clapperton. £1 ; Mrs R. J. Seddon (Wellington), £1 Is: Dr F. J. BatcheJor, £.l Is : Miss Dunlop, 2s : Mr William Davidson. ss; Mr W. A. Eraser. ss; Mr J. J. Fraser. 5«: Mrs Eraser, 10s: Miss Fi-aser (AVanganui), 10s; total, £ls 9s.