The New Zealand Young Men's Movement.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7941, 24 October 1904, Page 5

The New Zealand Young Men's Movement.

An important and-iriteresting phase of present day colonial life is seen in the young men's movement.: of , which the Rev. J. C. Jamieson is organising secretary. The movement seems to have caught on with a large number of young men. As Mr Jamieson is now in Palmerston we received the following information from him regarding it:— The young men's movement embraces a great variety of agencies of which the Sunday afternoon meeting is. the central one. Inone-place the Bible class, as it is called, carries on a gymnasium, reading room, games room and.parlour, has a physical;culture;class,, a liedertafel singing class, courses of lectures, free and easy concerts, etc. , The Biblo class' is thus a young men's club as well as a< Bible class. '■-.'...

The origin of the movement—During Easter 1902 the delegates from 12 young men's classes were in camp at Christchurch. These classes had adopted new ideas. They had no teacher, but one oftheir own number was elected to be chairman. Among the leaders were such men as Mr G. A. Troup, office engineer of the Railway Department, Mr T. W. Reese, .the. well known Christchurch cricketer, Mr W. Gray M.A., B. Sc, :(of- Dunedin), now- Chief Inspector of Schools- at Wanganui,- and Mr; A: D; Thomson, of Wellington,- now Magistrate m Palmerston N." The Bible classmeeting was conducted like a debating society; some one reading an essay and the other members joining in the discussion. Biographies and.present day topics found a place on the syllabus. Thus, in • addition to Biblical subjects, there were themes such as "The Manliness of Christ," "Is Gambling a Sin,". " The Use and Abuse of Athletics," " Religion and Business," "True Citizenship," " The Life of Roosevelt," " Henry Drummond," " The Bible as Literature," " Use. of Leisure," etc. The classes had social, literary and athletic adjuncts. In order to promote young men's classes of this broad democratic co-operative type the New Zealand Young Men's Presbyterian Bible Class Union was formed with Mr Troup as the president for the first year. Rev. J. C. Jamieson was appointed travelling secretary.

The progress has been most rapid. There must be over 60 such classes in the colony from Waipu, North of Auckland, to Waimatuku, South of Invercargill. The membership of these classes must oe over 2000. The last Easter' encampment was held at .Christchurch and 304 delegates were, present.. The fan of camp life, the competition for the athletic championship banner, and the conferences on methods of work made it a most interesting gathering./ A number'of teams entered for the championship in all-round athletics, andMr Reese's team, St. Paul's, Christchurch, proved successful. I

Many men join this movement who previously have had little connection with the churches. In many of the new classes 75 or 80 per cent, of the men that join are not actual members of any church. The chief attractions of the movement seem to be (1) the fact that j it is a young man's movement, con- i •trolled entirely by the young men themselves, actuated by the colonial spirit, I adojrtingthe New Zealand view point; (2) the sociability of the movement, the " club instinct" having a big share in the classes; (3) the breadth of the movement attracts types of men. Some of the athletic clubs have been very successful. St. John's, Wellington, has twice won the Senior Association Championship Shield, and has also twice won the. Silver Cup. A very large number .of the members take a leading part in hockey, football" and cricket. The" educational benefits of the. Sunday afternoon' discussioiis, -the. debating and rliterary. societies; •. the. libraries*.- reading rooms, &c.i; are valued.by; the members;The social rooms serveas^a.home away from home to many men who"; are in. lodgings.' There plenty of fun can be i had away from temptations of all kinds. "While people from the Old Land may have their doubts about the N.Z.8.C.U,, it undoubtedly suits the tastes of the typical young New Zealander. A young women's movement, following exactly the same lines, has been formed, and seems to be attracting a considerable number of young; women into its ranks. ■. The young men's secretary, the Rev. J. C Jamieson, will speak each night this week in St. Andrew's hall. The meetings are open to the public and begin at a quarter to eight o'clock.