THE Y.M.C.A.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7911, 26 July 1917, Page 3

THE Y.M.C.A.

AND ITS GREAT WAR WORK. MRS DE CASTRO’S ADDRESS. On Tuesday evening Mis De Castro, a Wellington lady who has had a considerable amount of personal experience of the great work which the Y.M.C.A. is doing for the soldiers, delivered an address in the Municipal Concert Hall in support of the appeal which is to be made shortly for funds for carrying on the work. The attendance, unfortunately, was by no means as good as it should have been in view of the world-wide interest which is being taken in the operations of the organisation, and the way in which it is meeting the needs of our boys. The Mayor, Mr W. I. Limbrick. presided and briefly introduced the speaker. In fluent, yet plain, simple and telling language, Mrs De Castro told an appealing story of the great trials and temptations to which the New Zealand troops were subjected in Cairo, rightly termed, she said, “a hell of iniquity.” With many little personal touches she outlined the difficulties under which the pioneers in the Y.M.C.A. work labored, difficulties which were intensified a hundredfold by the lack of funds. Yet, she said, they work strenuously from early morn till late at night, always happy in the knowledge

*hat they were doing something to help our boys to win through. The speaker stressed the point that the work of the Y.M.C.A. is entirely undenominational. “The Y.M.C.A.,” she said, “does not ask a man whether he is a Catholic, a Presbyterian, or a Church of England man. It takes them all in. I heard one man say, ‘I always thought the Y.M.C.A. people were wowsers. They will do me after this. ’ And that is the spirit ing right through.” The speaker described with telling pathos the departure of the troops for Gallipoli and of the return of long streams of wounded, light hearted in the knowledge that they had struck a blow for their Empire. Incidentally

she mentioned that after many brave lads had been sacrificed it was discovered that the managers of the two leading hotels, where all the officers sfayed, were spies in the pay of the enemy, and they were taken out and shot. When a camp was formed at Ismailia the boys, said Mrs De Castro, appealed to her to establish a canteen for them, and after considerable trouble, helped by gifts from one source and another, she opened up a hut. The canteen was literally besieged all day, men standing twenty deep. It was hard work but she felt that it was worth it, that she owed it to the mothers of those boys. Owing to a breakdown in health Mrs De Castro said she was compelled to give up the work she had grown to love. She went to France, arriving after a perilous experience in crossing the Mediterranean. On the Western front, she said, the Y.M.C.A. works right up to the front trenches, supplying the men with free tea, cocoa, and coffee as they are going in to take their places or are leaving for a well-earned rest. Here again the undenominational character of the work is manifest. The huts are used for, the services of the Catholics, Church of England, Presbyterians, and others. “The Y.M.C.A. does not trouble what a man’s religion is, it only knows that, he is there at his country’s call, ready to sacrifice his life if need be. We feel that we cannot do enough for them. I appeal to you to do your part. Each one can give sacrifice or service. Our boys are giving their lives and cannot giye more. They have made history for New Zealand, and it is our bounden duty to see that everything possible is done to lighten the gigantic task in which they are engaged.” On the motion of the Mayor a hearty vote of thanks was accorded by acclamation to Mrs De Castro for her most interesting address, and the singing of the National Anthem closed the meeting.