YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12639, 17 April 1903, Page 7

YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

OPENING. OF THE NEW ROOMS. Tho opening ceremony in connection with the Y.W.O. Association's now rooms in Moray placfe took plaoe yesterday afternoon, in th" presenra of a, very large assemblage of. ladies and clergy, among the latter being Dr Gibb, Professor Salmond, the Revs. Hewiteon, Fairclough, Sinclair, Brooke, Cole, Guy,:and Thomas. Mr H. D. Bedford, M.H.R., was also present. An apology for absence, was forwarded by the Mayor (Mr J. A. Park). The president of tho association (Airs Salmond) oocupicd the chair. The gathering assembled in the general meeting and dining room—a spacious apartment,—which had been tastefully decorated for the ocoasion. A few minutes past 3 his Excellency Lrrd Ranftirly, accompanied by Lord Northland arrived, and-the proceedings then commenced. Professor Salmond said that in tho nana of the committee of ladies ho had to welcome his Excellency and express tho groat gratification his presence gave, the oommittce. Ha (tho 1 speaker) was delegated to represent tho association, . which was wholly managed by Jadies, and the ■ president cherished soma old-world prejudices against the speaking of women which she could not overcome. He would limit himsolf to expressing his appreciation of tho indomitable energy the ladies had thrown into the work of rehabilitating tho association by getting possesion of tho fine new building' tlrey were in, and .congratulated thom upon being free from debt so far as the building itself was concerned. It was said, that ladiea had no faculty for business; but if that was so it must fce ; remembered that they had no opportunity of cultivating business habits. No man, liowever, could have throitn moro whole-hearted enthusiasm into this work than the ladies bad done; and if any man. present had similar work in hand and desired it to succeed, ho could wish him nothing better than to have suoh coadjutors. He had cow to call upon the secretary, Sister Clare, to read the report showing the present' position of the association.

Sister' Clare ihen read the following report;—

It will bo two years next July since we left our'old building, opposite First Church. Sinco then our work has had to be curtailed somewhat, owing to the lini'ited accommodation we have had. ■ However, wo have been enabled to cany on some of our classes. During the winter months Miss Brown's sewing class has been kept up, the young women availing themselves of the opportunity of learning different fancy work and plain sewing. We have had between 80 and 90 girls attending this class., At the close ot the class an exhibition of work was held, and prizes given for the best work done; The combined Dorcas and Bible class, which, is held every Wednesday evening, is attended by the older members, who sew for.an hour and a-half, malting garments to give away to any who are in need, and then close with a Bible reading and prayer. Our Saturday "evening meeting is evangelistic, attended by old and young. Sunday afternoon at' 3; o'clock our Young Women's Bible Class meet; between 10 and 20 young women attend this class. It is One of our most interesting classes. A 5 p.m. tea is prepared for any of them who like to stay, or any young woman whose home is not in town. When our young women get their Sunday afternoon to themselves they come home here, and have tea ■with us, after which we have prayers and go to our respective ohurches. Some of our young women have formed a " Sunbeam League," their motto being "Whatsoever you do, do Dv unto the Lord." Theii rules are to pray, work, and give—pray for God's blessing upon the association; work in its .interests; and give your time, talents, and support whenever you can. Since last December 272 visits have been made to the homes of the aged and poor; also 60 cottage meetings have been conducted by the members of this league, and once & month they go out to the Benevolent Institution and give the inmates an entertainment. Last Christmas gifts were distributed by them to several old people, thus endeavouring to shed sunshine by the way. ■ Three hundred and eight-four visits have been made to the homes of the girls; 59 visits have been made to diSerent factories' and laundries. Some of these girls have been influenced by our visits, and, on the whole, the work in this direction is very satisfactory. Many of these young women have joined our association, and are working in its interests. Our tea room proves a source of comfort to many of the young women of this city. During last year no less than 7766 visits were made by the different, girls. They are provided with a cup of tea for the small charge of 2d, and also with good reading matter and a good fire in winter. We have at present a membership of 325, but we shall' need a great many more, now that we have opened this HcTme. It means a great, amount of expense, and we are depending upon the yearly'-'subscription of our. members to carry on our work; and may I take this oppor- I trinity of soliciting the practical sympathy of the lady members of our different churches in this great and grand work among the young women of our city. Wo have two fees of membership—ss and 2s Gd. I shall be glad at the close of this afternoon to take tin names of those who wish to join our association and help us.

Financial Statement,—ln relation to finance, wo have to repoit that £1000 was realised from the sale of the old premises. In addition to this, donations, with interest on ths jgiooc, amounting to £1578 4s Id, have been recoivcd. The expenditure is as follows:— Contract price and extras, £1512 16s 8d; architects' fees, £60 9s Gd; furnishing, estimated at £200; ground rent, half-year, £19 10s;— total, £1812 16s 2d; leaving £231 12s Id still to be obtained. We offer our.sincere thanks to those donors who have so generously helped us, and hope to be able to raise the balance at an early date.

His Excellency, who on rising was received with applause, said lie could assure them it gave him great pleasure to be present- to tako part in the opening; ceremony, though lie lelt it would have been better if Laxly Ranfurly' had beem with him, as it was a. woman's work, antl a woman should have performed the opening ceremonial. He had been connected for a large number of yeara with the Young Men's Christian Association in Ms own nome, and to it was attached a notary association, which was a very useful adjunot. There were throughout Ireland and England at the present moment a large number of such institutions, and he was porfeotly aware.of the vast amount of good they were doing. They had ait Home mothoda by which, if it waa required to send a girl.from one place to another, eho could be sent to any association in any district, and wa« provided while travelling with beds in the buildings of the association or some house under their auspices, which was not only a convenience to people, but was greatly appreciated by the girls. The first question ho had asked the president of the association waa whether the association had bedroom accommodation for those assigned-to its care, as ho considered it ma a very important part of the association's duties. Every town had to march wifcli, tile' times, and he was indeed glad to think that Dunedin, in this,aa- in other matters, was marching with the times. Tiio association' had put un a building whioh they oonsidered utmld be sufficient for requirements and would be out of debt. He had not yet bad the advantage of seeing through it, but the committee must' be congratulated on erecting it without going into debt. He generally toimd that when buildings of, the kind were put up a certain amount of money was collected and a much larger amount was borrowed.—(Laughter.) 'In the present oase they were in the proud position of only owing about £200 out of the £1800 the building had oost. He hoped they would continue to carry on, not only religious Instruction and the visiting they did, but would carry on a useful and civilising work in a class for the purpose. He coidd assure them it was not only in the religious meoting, but in a class where girls met together socially, that great advantages, were reaped. He had always heard that in Now Zealand the 'poor did not exist; but that' was absolutely contrary to Scripture, which said the poor we had always with us., He was aware there wan a large number of poor among us, and in many rases they were too proud, and would rather dio Aran ask for charitable aid. There were, no'doubt; many in the town who had been affected by the dredging boom, though lie could not speak with confidwico on that

point. There were many poor people throughout the colony who had seen better days, and a'visit to such must clicer tliem up, and he hoped visiting would be extended as far as possible. It wis not always the religious side of the question, that required to bo kept uppermost, so much as to cheer up people, and he could assure them that a visit of only a few minutes tp persons who were in distress very often choored -them amazingly. He congratulated tho president and the ladies generally on . the success that had attended their ester- ' prise, and ho trusted that in the future it would' turn out a blessing to those in the city. Ho had also to offer his congrfttula,tions on the large attendance, and declared the new building oi>en. —(Applause.) i Dr Gibb. offered' up » prayer, asking : Divine blessing upon the institution and its I work.

Mr Bedford, M.H.R., then addressed tho meeting. He said tho association was to bo congratulated upon having his Excellency present, in travelling about tho country he had beard nothing but golden opinions expressed about his Excellency, bccause he soemed to take such a keen interest in the colony and in the people of the colony. Ho (tho speaker) believed his Excellency had broken the record in travelling about tho colony to obtair information as to its resources and tho condition ot life of the people. There was gTcat need for such an institution as the Y.W.C. Association, as thoro were those who required material aid of somo sort, He had been asked to draw attention to the finanoial position of the association. Sister Clare had told them that the'building was free of debt, which was a very good thing; but there was still a debt to bo incurred in furnishing the place,, and there was £234 12s Id required to completely free tho place from a debt which would hamper the operations of the association. Mr Bedford went on to speak of the tendency of men not to' attend church, and said, while it was to bo regretted, it was to a degree compensated for by the increasing interest taken in tho young peoplo. If they could get hold of tho young ■ men and young women they might depend upon it tlicy would have a good colony in the end.

Professor Salmond intimated that the building was then open for inspection. That was the first announcement, and' tlie second was that there would b(j 110 collection. He thought that was unparalleled;', but his Excellency wislied to donate five guineas, notwithstanding. Tho building was froo from debt,"but the furnishings, etc., had to be paid for. They were not going to make a collection, but there was a box at tlio door—(laughter),—which they would not in tho smallest degree deprive anyone who had not subscribed tho privilege of using. The third intimation was that the ladies had provided good tea and good' cake for all and sundry. The architect and builder of the place were both present, and some reference, it was thought, should be made to tlieii work. They had both done their work well, but he was not in a position to say muoh about it. They had faith in both architect and builder. The architect happened to be a son of his, so he was not in a position to say very much about him.—(Laughter.) Tho builder was, r.o doubt, a deserving and worthy builder, and would be duly paid in good time — (Laughter.) Those present then proceeded to make an inspeotion of the building aiid to partake of the refreshments prepared by the ladies.