THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1907.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8869, 1 November 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1907.

The Wellington papers relate an incident which will give pleasure to every reader of it. , Everyone has heard of the efforts of the Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aubert to ' establish that splendid institution . situated at Island Bay known as Our Lady's Home of Compassion, for the housing and care of incurably diseased and afflicted children. After strenuous efforts by the good mother to raise sufficient funds, a building had been erected at a cost of up- ( wards of £12,500, but upon its completion it was found to be so defective in many particulars that a further sum of £3,000 was found necessary to render it fit for the purposes intended. This was a staggering blow to the rev. mother, but she bravely went to work to raise the additional funds. She set about a fresh canvass, and found liberal response, and amongst others she sought the aid of Her Excellency .Lady Plunket, before whom she laid the whole position of affairs. Among ■••the works urgently needed for the convenience of the Home was a concrete reservoir upon a steep hill overlooking the institution, the cost being estimated at about £6OO, a considerable percentage of which would go in cirting lare;e quantities of gravel up the hill-described as a "stiff pull, even for horses." The cost was too much for the rev. mother, and after the fashion ot the celebrated "Bill Adams" of Shazelle fame, she decided to "take the job 1 on" herself. She arranged with the boys of St. Patrick's College and the Sisters of the Poor to commence shifting a mass of gravel that had already been deposited near the Home to the reservoir site. This came to the ears of Lady Plunket, and, with splendid pluck, she decided to take a hand in the work. At three o'clock on Wednesday, when most of the citizen-workers were enjoying their half-holiday, there apI peared at the rubble-mound by the I Home their Excellencies the Gover«

nor and Lady Plunket, accompanied by Captains Gaythome-Hardy, and Lyon, A.D.C.'a, with the object of giving willing' help in getting the gravel to the top of the hill. Off went Lord Plunket's "frock." to be supersttded by a "sweater," while Lady Plunket donned suitable apparel and a coarse apron. Thus attired and eager for the fray vice-royalty took a practical part in a splendid work of charity. Into rough doublehanded boxes they shovelled the gravel and carried it to its eleyated destination. The Governor and the Very Rev. Father Keogh, and Her Excellency and the rev. mother, worked in couples and hauled the rubble along like Trojans. They were aided in the work by the Aides-de-ca np and the college boys, and in a very short time the gravel-mound, .consisting of 8£ tons of material, was transferred to the top of the hill. Practical sympathy of this kind'is not to be estimated by* any money value, because its value is simply inestimable. It may 'be taken for granted that the example set will not only solve the money difficulty of the Home, but will be an incentive to the exhibition qf practical charity such as no mere pecuniary donation, however generous, would incjte. When the representative of the King and his wife can for the moment lay aside the pomp of state, and do as did Lord and Lady Plunket on Wednesday last, a fresh link has been welded in the chain of ..affection binding the dominion to the Mother Country, and the office of Governor-in-Chief has been raised to a dignity which could not be reached by the performance of mere routine duty, with all the accessory social functions and official pompr