Our Illustrations

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 26, 30 June 1909, Page 16

Our Illustrations

DR BARNARDQ’S HOMES. IT is easy to write of the grinding poverty of the Old Country, and of its thousands of hungry and homeless children, but it is difficult to realise the full meaning of the appalling facts or their bearing upon the welfare of the Empire at large. Attempts to deal with the child-misery of Great Britain have been many, but none (have been more romantic or successful than those of that prince of philanthropists, Dr. (Barnardo. He has now been nearly four years dead, but the greatness of his work is recognised by the King himself, and by the humblest of bis subjects. He opened a door in his •wonderful Institutions, from which no destitute child was ever repulsed, and be himself received and started in life 60,000 of the poorest and neediest of the Mother Country’s outcasts. To-day (they enrich the world with their manhood’s and womanhood’s strength, and they rise up to testify to the greatness end glory of that' Christian charity, which bend's to the lowliest, and believes in the survival of the apparently .unfit. We give on page 36 a picture of eighteen children taken into Dr. Barnardo’s Homes in the ordinary way from many parts of England. Their ages range from twelve months to eighteen years. They have one thing in common—all have been destitute, •the flotsam and jetsam of poverty’s dark river. What they will become is now being demonstrated in our Dominion by the Rev. W. J. SJayers, the Senior Deputation Secretary of the Homes, who has brought to this country a party of fine healthydooking lads, who have been in the Homes for an average of six years, and who are helping to attract the crowds attending Mr. Mayers’ lectures throughout New Kealand'. This is the second visit which the Deputation Secretary has paid to vs. In 1892 he came with eight boys, and returned with £lO,OOO to show what the people of Australia and New Zealand thought of the grand work of his .chief. Now he brings ten lads, and has already secured more than the splendid total of seventeen years ago. An early friend of Dr. Barnardo, and f»r 21 years closely connected with the Homes, Mr. Mayers is specially qualified to apeak of what they have done, and are doing. The late Canon Fleming testified of Mr. Mayers that “he has caught the spirit of his leader. Dr. Barnardo, in his love for the children, and in this respect treads closely in that good man’s steps”; and one of the foremost of London’s preachers (Dr. Campbell Morgan) says:—-“I always feel when I •listen to him, or watch him with his •boys and at his .work, that I have never known a more conspicuous instance of the right man in the right place.” (With such credentials, with much a story to tell, and with such a striking sample as is furnished by hie musical boys of f.he results of the work, it is not to be wondered at that success has attended Mr. Mayers’ way. He left (England in February, <l9OB, has already given on Sundays 165 addresses, and on week-days 262 lectures, and will reach 'Auckland on July 9th. When here in 1892 he was entertained by Sir Wm. (Fox, and speaks in glowing terms Of both his private and -public receptions. He is not likely to have less camse'for satisfaction on the present occasion. The Homes are now sheltering 8,300 boys ami girls, many of-whom are cripples. To erect for the sick andecrippied girls a now Hospital in the Village ■Homes (where 1,300 girls are being sheltered and trained), as the Australasian tribute to Dr. Barnardo’s memojy, is

the chief end of Mr. Mayers’ mission, and he is sanguine that this worthy object will be attained. Thermusical meetings in Auckland are being looked forward to with interest by ma»jy friends of the work'. THE C.B. SYSTEM OF TELEPHONY. INSTALLED AT INVERCARGILL. Invercargill now shares with Timaru the distinction of having the most upto date and efficient system of

telephony in • the dominion of New Zealand. The main features of the ayistem, wiiicli has now been imstullefl, are, simplicity of operation by the subscriber, prompt and reliable connecting by the Central Exelm.nge, and efficiency and secrecy of the “speaking” system. The method of telephony—the Central Battery system—derives fits name from the .fact that all the electrical energy dor speaking and .-signalling purposes, both inside and outside the is generated at, and distributed as required, from the Central (Exchange. i The vigorous and .sometimes impatient turning of the handle is now denied the hitherto long-suffering subscribers. By the simple act of taking his telephone receiver from 'the receiverhook, an electrical signal immediately flashes into view on the switchboard, intimating to the operator, even before the receiver reaches the ear of the subscriber, that a “call” is being made. By a rapid and dexterous maniuplation of a connecting device by the operator, and the resultant action of certain electrical apparatus, the anxious subscriber is almost immediately greeted with the welcome “Number, please.” Upon obtaining the required number from the subscriber, another rapid manipulation of the connecting device results in the bell of the “wanted subscriber” being rung by the power plant at “Central.” The arrangement of supervising the signals at the exchange is such that a small electric lamp, associated with the connecting switches, remains alight until the called, subscriber answers, and refuses to “hide .its light under a bushel” until he does so. By this means the connection is under perfect control and supervision, and the wanted subscriber can and will be rung up again from the Central Exchange if he does not answer ' promptly. Immediately he answers, the mute sentinel is lost to sight, and the operator knows that a conversation is proceeding. Under ordinary circumstances when a conversation is concluded, subscribers automatically advise the controlling operator of the fact by the mere placing of the receiver upon its supporting hook. The lamps again darken, a eall is electrically recorded against the subscriber, from whom it originated, and everything is again in readiness for a rrepeti-T-ion of this cycle of operations. The simplicity and' efficiency of the Central Battery System of Telephony is effected by what to the layman is a 'bewildering accumulation of eledtron agnetic devices, and electric lamps, the number of which has necessitated the use of hundreds of miles of connecting wire, and the making of hundreds of thousands of soldered connections, besides the installation of a complete electrical generating and storing plant, consisting of gas engines, dynamos, motors and accumulators.

We understand that, as necessity arises, the C.B. System will be introduced into the large centres.

A FIRE EXTINGUISHER. A striking demonstration of the uses of a neat and effective hand fire-fighting weapon, the “Minimax” 'Fire 'Extinguisher, was given in ‘Wellington last week. Six or seven packing cases, filled with .-shavings aifd saturated with tar and kerosene, were set alight, and in a few seconds a roaring fire was in progress. But just when the spectators-were raijoying the spectacle the flames lost their .glory, and blackness came in place Of the vivid reds and yellows. When the flames were at their height -the little hand extinguisher-was turned on from a distance of five or six yards. A thin jet p.Hired on the blazing mass, and the effect was instantaneous. The flames wavered and died away, and by the time t he jet had played for less than a-minute the fire was over, the blackened and -eharred cases remaining where, a few seconds before, was a furious blaze. The “Minimax,” as the name implies, is a miniature fire brigade. When fire is behaving itself and eonfini-g itself to the proper place, the “Minimax” rests quietly on a hook or other place of support, >and--wi>en danger comes it is lifted down for easy

action. The knob at the bottom is bumped against any hard object, and a jrt of quencher at onoe rushes from the nozzle. As the output has a range of 40ft.., the person manipulating the cone, which contains 10 pints, can stand a oodl distance away from the: “incipient-fire.”’ and comfortably give it-a quietus. It is diaimed for the “Minimax”- that its contents do not corrode the-metallic easing; and-are harmless, exeept far (the fire enemy ; the liquid does not deteriorate, the apparatus is easily worked, .".nd is light enough to be transported and openfted "by even a boy or girl. The demonstration was un-

der the supervision of the local agenf, Mr. A. T. Bate. Some heads of Government departments and prominent citisens had an opportunity to see the jet guickly subduing a fierce fire.