LONDON Y.M.C.A. APPEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14933, 5 March 1912, Page 4

LONDON Y.M.C.A. APPEAL.

- ——■» ♦ WHY ' IT FAILED BY £33,000. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, January 26. When* the strenuous effort to raise £100,000 in London in 12 days for the Y.M.C.A. closed this week, the grand total realised stood at £66,677. Mr. Charles S. Ward, the champion moneyraiser of America, admitted defeat for the first time. When asked what he thought of the result he replied :— "Just this : I. do not blame London for it. The fact is that there has been a fundamental hindrance to our attainment of the goal. The ghost of Exeter Hall has haunted us all through the 12 days. The j people here have au ingrained idea that | the Y.M.C.A. stands for that bygone conception of aggressive Christianity, namely, that we must go about asking people in unnatural tones of voice, and with wearied expressions, 'Are you on the Lord's side V Am I discouraged '( Not at all. This campaign has left London and England with a new conception of what a Y.M.C.A. is. It has been an educational propaganda, and the Y.M.CA.' will be better understood henceforth. Then, . again, the majority of moneyed people have been out of London. London is not like- Ottawa or Philadelphia. It lacks the homogeneity of these Western cities, and leaders of society know next to nothing of the actual working policy of the association. London is made up of 10 cities, and instead of 100 business men we really needed 1000. But I never met with greater courtesy and finer enthusiasm. I shall come to London again, God willing, when I hope to see the fruits of this stiff but greatly enlightening campaign." The captains of the money-raising teams met the following night, when the chairman (Mr. Reiereon Arbuthnot) congratulated all concerned at the result, stating ! that it was the judgment of the committee j that the campaign would prove invaluable ' to the association in the future. 1 As proof of the new spirit that would i regulate the policy of the council in the '■ future, Mr. Arbuthnot mentioned that ' three sums of £500 promised were conditional upon the association adding a bil- ' liard table to ite equipment. He believed j that promise would be fulfilled not for ! the sake of the £1500, but because they . were prepared to encourage every form of useful recreation, and: remove it from • pernicious surroundings. * > « ' ■ : : .-/■ 1