THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, 13th AUGUST, 1895.

Southland Times, Issue 13286, 13 August 1895, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, 13th AUGUST, 1895.

In our advertising columns will be found to-day the balance sheet, for the period ending Bth July of this year, ’of The Countess of Glasgow’s Sailors’ Best, Bluff. The first subscription on behalf of this institution was that of his Excellency the Governor, and was received in February, 1893. Tbe Best was opened on 31st October, 1894. We learn from the hon. secretary that in the subscription list England, Scotland, and Australia are largely represented ; and that but for the interest taken in it by warm-hearted friends of the sailor in those countries, the project would have had to wait a good while longer before being put in execution This, however, is said in no disparftgement of tbe hearty and active co-operation and the liberal response of many friends in New Zealand. The initiation of the Bluff enterptise was due to the suggestion of Mr A. B. Falconer, the founder and present superintendent of the Sailors’ Rests at Dunedin and Port Chalmers. There was hardly any one to dispute the necessity for a House open for tbe free reception of seamen at Bluff. The large and increasing number of ships and steamers frequenting the port formed the sufficient justification, and indeed a clamant demand. Opportunities for waste of substance and demoralisation abounded, and it was high lime that some counter agency should be set on foot. What the sailor wanted when he touched the shore was some quiet refuge where, in warmth and comfort, he nrgbt. sit down without temptation to squander his means in return for the few material advantages afforded him Such a retreat is the typical Sailors’ Bes*, now happily known in every port of consequence in Great Britain and her colonies. Now, at Bluff, the sailor on landing can walk straight into wellappointed rooms, heated and lighted in winter, offering him, free, good reading, the materids for correspondence, wholesome games, and, for a small charge,, simple refieshmen s. For one game only, that of bagatelle, a trifling charge is exacted, the table being a perishable article of a somewhat costly nature, and requiring a fund for up-keep and renewal. We are glad to be informed that, with these provisions, the Rest has proved o marked success. Numbers attend it regularly—large numbers, when one of the big steamers is in port—and the writing-table is in special request, particularly at times of departure. Several instances can be quoted of men who, once accustomed to squander their means when their only resort was the publichouse, now find all that they want within the quiet precincts of the new building provided. The committee acted wisely, we think, when they extended tbe privileges of their institution beyond actual sailors to all connected in any way with shipping. Such men, during certain hours of the day, are as much in want of comfortable accommodation as sailors, and we understand that they freely avail themselves of that which is offered at the Best. It cinnot be too widely understood that this is a true temperance agency, and urged that, ae such, it is worthy the support of all temperance organisations. It is worth many speeches on prohibition, and its value and purpose were recognised in the exertions successfully put forth on its behalf by members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, in Invetrctrgill and elsewhere, The benefit of tho Rest to the port has been handsomely and appropriately acknowledged also by the Bluff Harbour Board, whese donation of ten guineas this year, towards maintenance, it is hoped will 1 be annually repeated. And tbe Board has set an example that may very well be followed by other public bodies. The Southland County Council, the Wallace County Council, tbe Lake County Council, tbe Invercargill Borough Council,and the Campbelltown Town Council seem all to have a duty in this matter. The Best buildings have been provided nt a very small local cost, and it is surely not too much to expect that the expense of maintenance should be borne in part by the corporate bodies that we have named, They are expressly authorised by statute to render such , assistance. A clause in the Public Revenues Act, 1893, runs as follows . — “ It shall be lawful for the Audit Office to allow, in the accounts of any Borough Council, Town Board, Road Board, or Harbour Board, any moneys which shall have been spent on purposes other than those mentioned in any Acts for the time being in force, authorising the expenditure of the funds of such Council or Board, provided that the Audit Office flhall be satisfied that such expenditure was made bona Ude for the service and in the interests of the inhabitants of the district administered by any such Council or Board ; and provided also that such expenditure shall not have exceeded the amount of one pound per centum on the income of the said Council or Board in tbe same year, nor in any case, the sum of yi/ry pounds in any one year.” This, we understand, is the warrant under -which the Bluff Harbour Board voted its donation, and we have quoted the clause iu full for the benefit of other administrative bodies which may be disposed to act in a sitpilar spirit of enlightnened liberality, fi should not be overlooked that, especially during the winter months, the current expenses of the Rest are considerable, while it has no fixed income to rely upon, To the various churches also, in the Southland district; we venture to*

suggest that In annual collection on behalf ~ of the I institution in question would be a practical exhibition of the zeal for temperance which now characterises them all, . . . We cannot conclude, these remarks without reference to tbe hoon conferred on the Best by the late Railway'Uommissioners, by their gift of a practically free site—the host for the purpbse that Bluff contains. But for this valuable sssistance, the erection of the buildings must have been delayed, and they could not at any time have commanded the attention of seamen as they now do. I here is reason, we understand, also to congratulate the committee on their good fortune in having secured the services of a . superintendent, qualified in a marked degree for the special work of going among the sailors and others for whose benefit the Rest exists. During the short period for which Mr Hutton has held office he has proved himself to be eminently the man for tbe place. We are glad to te able also to call attention to tbe fact that, the hon, secretary and treasurer who’ acted up to the Btli July last having resigned, his place has been taken by Captain John 0. Hunter, in whose hands we exp.-ct all the interests of the Rest to continue to prosper.