A SUCCESSFUL GIRLS' CLUB.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12281, 13 June 1903, Page 7

A SUCCESSFUL GIRLS' CLUB.

" We do not ask this thing of you as a favour, but rather as a righyfc,," was , the remark with which (according to the Melbourne Age) a gentle little lady a few months ago staggered the city fathers of Prahran, r «_the had approached them to ask tha£ a room for use -Is a girls' club sho\\ld be granted. Such a thing was unjieard of in the annals cf v the city., •" and ' naturally enough the various, councillors were shy of establishing ,n precedent. The majority of them/ moreover, "poohpoohed" the i'iea' of a girls' club being an item of vital necessity in any municipality, jynd when it was plainly stated to their veryl faces that private ratepayers h,ad a, right tQ demand such a thing th^ey turned up their eyes in wonderment at.. what: women would ask for nextc' Peace-,- however, was not to be ensured by means of platitudes, and almost before they knew- they had sur-" rendered, the councillors had granted to the organiser of the Prahran branch of the Frances Willard Olub a room of. the very first'qualityy sooner was this accomplished tha^- a* ten" roomed shop, next door { waij,vjcentea. A fe% weeks ago saw the opening of the ne\^' club, and to-day 60 or 70 young women axe reaping the advantages of it. In J the dressmakinjg class alone there are no fewer than. 52.students, while every other class is well \by girls , who findiin. congenial employment well earned recreation. The club:. is selfsupporting, and is far removed from a merely philanthropic venture. "Fancy" classes; such, as mandolin playing and painting, are costlier to the students than>he. pa»ct;cal ones, such, as dressmaknig and./cookeryi 1 >A shilling a term entitles a^-dember << to . the use of the club I TOomSS; and ? ihe/" recreation classes.^-' A'mbst-UEjef^ J>rovj.ion is the resting room 'reserved to girls to whom the luxury of quiet is rare. If things .continue only half as well as they have begun, hundreds of young women in Prahran will very shortly be brought under the influence of a most desirdfole. institution. It is . worthy of note that no one is prouder of the success ot the venture than the Prahran tsity council itself. It maintains now thnt it r has established a precedent/other councils would do well to follow, anc. is quite prepared to scout iHe notion that ife was ever other than in warm fa,vouij of the establishment of ";_«_ uplttct. date club $6* girl* under the very-win» of the municiDality.