NEW WORK FOR THE Y.M.C.A.

Evening Star, Issue 22413, 10 August 1936, Page 11

NEW WORK FOR THE Y.M.C.A.

When the Government decided to proceed again , with the building .of railway lines throughout the Dominion the National Council was again asked to undertake the social, work for the workers in the construction camps, and a new agreement was drawn up and signed as between the Public Works Department and the National Council. The Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple, was most sympathetic. Mr A. Cook of the New Zealand Workers Union, and Mr Wood, Engineer-m-Chief of the Public Works Department, were very helpful in bringing about the new arrangement. Equipment has been moved to the Gisborne area by the department, and Mr Jeffs, Y.M.C.A. secretary, is already installed at Bartlett’s camp, about 27 miles from Gisborne. A hut will also be opened at Kopuawhara within the coming week. It is anticipated that there will be other centres opened in connection with the work in- this area. It is also anticipated that the hut will be again opened at Tiriroa and the Parnassus end of the South Main. Trunk line. New equipment, especially cinema plant, will be required, and negotiations are in progress with the department to arrange the finance in this connection. , .

The Minister is keenly interested in the provision of technical libraries, so that young men on these jobs who wish to understand better how to do their work and to improve their ability and usefulness can learn to do so. And in this connection Mr Norrie, of the Public Library, and Dr Scholefiekl, of the Parliamentary Library, are wholeheartedly co-operating. Mr H. 0. South, a member of the Wellington Y.M.C.A. Board, has also greatly assisted in this matter. Every assistance is being given by the Public Works Department in establishing the new centres, and a useful field of service presents itself to the association during the next few years.