DUNEDIN CITY MISSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2975, 22 March 1911, Page 8

DUNEDIN CITY MISSION.

The fifteenth annual report of the office"iearersof the Dunedin City Mission se"s: The committee is constrained to acknowKge the goodness of God 1 in granting a ge measure of blessing during the past year and also health and strength to Mr Puncan Wright so tha* he was able to jnosecute with his customary enthusiasm and vigour the various duties which fall to the jot of a city missionary. It is also within knowledge that during the past 12 months ayimpathy and co-operation of a definite and Substantial character from many quarters have greatly cheered the missionary's heart. To those who are really interested in the question it is well known that Mr Wright has been for many years closely identified with every movement in connection with the Bible-in-Schools question. When he was unanimously chosen to be city missionary 16 years ago he felt that with long years of experience amongst young people jn the Old 'Land and New Zealand something of a practical nature might be attempted in the city State schools'. The idea had the warmest approval of the officehearers, and the public emphatically endorsed their action. From the first day to this present hour the parents and school committees have \ been most sympathetic,, and the gratifying fact remains that during these long years the classes have been so well attended as to crowd the largest rooms available. So far as is known to the committee no other agent has been able to carry on and continue such successful Biblereading classes as those now in their sixteenth year. To school committees, head masters, and teachers, a,s well as parents and senior scholars, the committee offers its best thanks for valued assistance. By request the classes have been resumed at North-East Valley, Kaikorai, Albany Street, Maori Hill, and Arthur Street, and gratifying numbers have been enrolled. Compared with the state of_things when the missionary was engaged doing home mission work long years ago in connection with Knox Church, the workers were few in number, whereas Dunedin and suburbs have now a perfect network of devoted men and women who are constantly seeking to uplift those who are morally weak and physically infirm, and the City Mission performs a modest share of such service. In virtue - of his position as senior lay worker in Dunedin, the missionary has ready access everywhere to the homes of the people who represent all classes., and his ministrations are gratefully received and appreciated wherever he goes. As an unsectarian agency this is as it should be, and most heartilv the people have endorsed our platform and our actions. In relieving urgent oases of distress the sum of £26 10s was expended, and in response to Mr Wright's appeal the sum of £7l was promptly sent on and forwarded in a special case for a widow and fatherless children. The agent gladly relieves temporarily urgent oases of distress and poverty irrespective of creed or nationality. In evidence of the cosmopolitan character of the City Mission may be noted for the benefit of subscribers and friends some of the places visited by request and services, ordinary and special, conducted by the missionary : Kew Primitive Methodist, Dr Henry's mission, Council of Churches, Kelso, j Heriot. Glenkenich, Dunedin. Prison, Otago Sunday School Union, All Saints' Sunday School, Dundas Street, lecture at Tima.ru to a united gathering of Sunday school teachers, Woodhaugh new hall, Choral Hall, Moray Place, Baptist Church, Tabernacle, Society Protection Women and Children, Salvation Army Sunday School, Central Mission, First Church. Knox Church jubilee, Chinese social, Chalmers Church, Maori Hill Sunday School, Musselburgh Presbyterian Church, Cargill Road, St. Andrew's,' Band of Hope, Pehchet Bay, Wocdside. St. Clair Congregational Church, Roslyn Baptist Church Sunday School, King Street Sunday School. _ Mr Wright cheerfully visits and assists in services, if asked, in connection with all the evangelical denominations, and will continue to do so if health and strength be continued. The Sunday evening service in Albany Street School continues to prosper. There are good gatherings, excellent conduct, bright singing, short practical addresses, many valued helpers, and, it is believed, real spiritual help to old and young. The Pelichet Bay Band of Hope, held in the same building on a week day, now by request under the wing of the' City Mission, meets a real want in a populous neighbourhood, and has been quite a success l . An active committee (with Mr Robert Maepherson as leader) has done the solid work, and the missionary and others are glad to be associated with the movement. During the year *he committee elected Mr W. E. Sessions. Cf Kaikorai, tcK.be on© of its >umber, and he accepted' th© invitation, and

prove© to be a diligent, regular member of the executive. In the early stages of the mission's work, when its aims and objects were understood only in part, the finances ' were not promising, and gave some concern. All these fears have passed away long ago, and never once are the office-bearers now concerned about ways and means. The three chief funds are: (1) The Good Samaritan Fund, from which during the year had been expended close upon J 310 0; (2) the fund for literature, and that .fund, too, has been generously upheld; (3) the General Fund, out of which the missionary is supported, has been all along liberally maintained by gifts that are olten anonymously sent, and in other cases are accompanied by letters of cheer and goodwill. The balance sheet makes good reading in view of the great demands that are constantly being made by kindred institutions. The thanks of the office-bearers are offered to all helpers and to all kind donors, both in . town and country.