PRESBYTERIAN ORPHANAGES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3899, 4 December 1928, Page 9

PRESBYTERIAN ORPHANAGES.

WELFARE OF THE CHILDREN. RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT. AUCKLAND, November 29. “ The man in the street will more readily give you £5 for the care of one orphan in New Zealand than he will give £1 for the care of five children in China,” said the Rev. Dr Gibb, of Wellington, at the Presbyterian General Assembly to-day in commending the work carried out during the past year by the Presbyterian Social Service Association. “ Not only are the bodies and the mental welfare of the children cared for in our orphanages, but I believe that great spiritual work is also being done. In my opinion the spiritual development of orphaned children is better than that of children in the majority of the homes In New Zealand.— (Applause.) Of all children who have passed through our orphanage in Wellington in the years I have been connected with it, I have known only one or two cases of moral shipwreck. Practically the whole of the children who have gone out into the world have made splendid progress as worthy citizens of New Zealand.”—(Applause.) Mr J. B. Brugh, of Dunedin, spoke of the splendid influence that was being wielded in the Presbyterian orphanages. Far too many parents in New Zealand, he said, instead of disciplining their children, were inclined to give them boxes of chocolates. “We believe,” added Mr Brugh, “ that if you spare the rod you spoil the child, and that children may be brought up more effectively under our method in a corrugated iron building than they may be brought up under less effective methods in a marble hall.”—(Applause. ) The assembly expressed its hearty thanks to all the workers engaged in the activities of the Presbyterian Social Service Association.