MISSION TO SEAMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19918, 11 April 1928, Page 10

MISSION TO SEAMEN.

ACTIVITY IN AUCKLAND. WELCOME TO NEW CHAPLAIN. The reopening ceremony of the Seamen's Institute, Emily Place, will be held this evening, when an official welcome will be extended to the Rev. H. K. Vickery, formerly chaplain, Newcastle, New South Wales, and Mrs. Vickery. Mr. Vickery has been appointed to the charge of the Mission to Seamen in Auckland. The Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, and Lady Alice Fergusson, will bo present, and Archbishop Averill will preside. His Excellency has accepted the position of patron of the Auckland branch of the mission. Lady Alice Fergussop has agreed to act as patroness of the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild. Tho annual report of the mission, which is to be presented this evening, states "a particularly useful service has been performed to the community during the troubled year of 1927. The prevailing acute unemployment affected seafaring men probably as much as any other class, and the use of the mission rooms -and .tho comfort and hospitality to be found there were so greatly appreciated that the attendance for the year exceeded 20,000. Visitors to the rooms could always procure a cup of hot tea or coffee and some biscuits or cake, and though a nominal charge of one pepny was made, it was not enforced when men came, as they frequently did, with absolutely no money in their pockets." The mission, the report stated, had been handicapped thrpugh lack of a. permanent chaplain and donations and subscriptions showed a slight drop. In view of the heavy expense to be incurred in the near future, when the chaplain took over his duties, it was hoped that a much larger measure of support from the public would be forthcoming.