DUNEDIN SISTERS' MISSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 70

DUNEDIN SISTERS' MISSION.

INTERVIEW WITH SISTER OLIVE.

The Dunedin Sisters' Mission is an organisation having for its object philanthropic work of a practical nature amongst the poor, and the sick of the city. It was inaugurated about eight or nine yeacs ago by the late Mrs Brodie, who -collected subscriptions and en- * gaged Miss Raeburn. Miss Raeburn carried on the work successfully for some years, until her marriage. In th 3 meantime Mrs Brodie removed from Dunedin, and a committee of ladies and , gentlemen was formed to supervise the work of the mission. "When Miss Raeburn resigned, Miss Sinclair was appointed as her successor, and acted as the Sister for a few years. Recently, Sister Sinclair, desiring to obtain further training in her work, resigned her .appointment, in -order that she might go to England for that purpasei There ' she has been most successful, and was almost immediately appointed xo \.the temporary charge of an* institution of considerable importance. The committee in Dunedin experi- " ericed great in obtaining a successor to Miss Sinclair, as they desired to secure the ) servioes of a lady who was,thoroughly experienced in the particular class- of work carried on by the mission. As it did not appear likely they would succeed in getting the services of such a lady in New Zealand, they communicated with Sydney and Melbourne, corresponding with gentlemen there who have charge of similar missions. The result of their inquiries was, to obtain a very strong recommendation for Sister Olive, whom the committee at once engaged, and Sister Olive arrived in Dunedin by the Monowai on Tuesday to take up her work. Sister Olive conies to Dunedin with very r high recommendations. She has passed the theological examination for a deaconess, and also passed the medical and nursing examination, securing 280 marks out of a possible 300. Dr Wilkinson was the examiner. The work of the mission is practical benevolence—that is to say, helping the poor in- a practical way, obtaining situations, securing homes for orphans, nursing the sick, helping bedridden people, and doing the thousand and one acts which only a woman can do. It is entirely undenominational in its operations ; but, for the sake of security, it, is supervised by a committee of ladies and gentlemen in connection with the Trinity Wesleyan Church in this city. As the work is undenominational and carried on for the benefit of the poorer class of the public at. large, a reporter of this journal waited upon Sister Olive on Friday afternoon and requested her to outline the nature of her work. Sister Olive, whose kindly features testify. to a specialaptitude for th© work o£ mercy in which she is engag"ccV sa Wj i n re plyj that the main idea of the mission is to attend to the spiritual side of a person's wants, and in order to gain their end they proceed to work through the material side. Assistance is given in many forms. It may be that medical attendance is required, or perhaps clothing or blankets or food are urgently needed, and when a home is visited it some- ' £unes havens that the first w,ork, the kind

Sister takes up jp that of cleaning and tidying up the house. There is no necessity to fully describe the multifarious duties that fall to the lot of a Sister. Anyone who has read the reports of the work carried on in^the cilyu>y the mission in the past will under stand 4fcs nature. It is all work of a class that Sister Ruth has undertaken many times — work in which she was well trained by experienced sisters for close on two years in Collingwood, where there was plenty of scope for the merciful work of the sisterhood. Although she has been in Dunedin only a few days, Sister Olive notices that the class she terms the " loafing poor " is absent from this city. They are numerous enough in Melbourne and its suburbs, men and women, and among them Sister Olive spent much of her time. Many of them she persuaded time after time to take shelter for a night either at Dr Singleton's Homes or at the Salvation Army Shelter, and once an unfortunate of either sex enters the portals of these institiitions<it often proves the turning-point in their careers to a better life.- There are also the refuges of the Army and the Government, as well as one connected with the Trinity Wesleyan Church. To ( cope with the misery and. degradation of the city and its environments, Sister Olive says there is the Melbourne city missionary, whose efforts are directed by a purely undenominational society — the Coimexional Sisterhood, an ' institution connected with ' the Trinity Wesleyan Church, the City Mission, which is carried on on a very' broad basis, and the Salvation Army. The work is plentiful, as phown by the fapt that although there are many connected with the societies engaged in it it is seldom two sisters of different societies meet at the one house to render help. In Melbourne Sister Olive had "access to all the public institutions, excepting the gaol, without a pass, at any hour of the day, and we are assured by her that it would be a great boon to her in her work in Dunedin if' the sume privilege were extended to her" here. Another privilege given to these societies in Victoria is the free carriage of parcels on the railways. It has been arranged by the Dunedin Sisters' j Mission to give a reception to Sister Olive on Wednesday evening, 23th inst., in the Trinity Wesleyan Church, Stuart street. His Worship the Mayor (Mr R. Chisholm) will preside on the occasion.