RESCUE HOME.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume V, Issue 12, 1 June 1915, Page 145

RESCUE HOME.

Yisitor— The Right Rev. the Bishop. Trustees— The Right Re>v. the Bishop, Archdeacon D. Ruddock, Archdeacon H. W. Williams, Canon Mayne, Dr. E. A. W. Henley, Mr F. VV. Williams, Mr J. H. Sheath. House Commiteee— Archdeacon D. Ruddock, Dr. E. A. W. Henley, Mr Bruce Bear, Mrs Sedgwick, Mrs Ruddock, Mrs Thorpe, Mrs J. Williams, Mrs Richmond, Deaconess Esther Brand. Treasurer— Mr Bruce Bear. Superintendent and Organising Secretary — Deaconess Esther Brand. Central Committee— President, the Bishop ; Organising Secretary, Deaconess Esther Brand ; Delegates, Mrs Henley, Cathedral Parish ; Mrs Thorp, S. Augustine's Parish ; Mrs Fowler, Hastings ; Mrs Richmond, Havelock North ; Mrs Kinross White, Ormsondville ; Mrs Gordon Williams, Otane ; Mrs F. Hutchinson, jun., Rissington ; Mrs C. H. Maclean, Rotorua ; Mrs Thomson, >Taradale ; Mrs Sedgwick, Takapau ; Mrs Fred. Williams, Tolaga Bay ; Mrs Ruddock, Weber ; Mrs Harding, Waipukurau ; Miss Eidith Williams, Waipiro Bay ; Mrs J. H. Williams, Woodville ; - ; - •• Waipawa. :

OPENING OF DIOCESAN RESCUE HOME. On Monday, 31st May, the Bishop ,of the Diocese dedicated the •house in Burlington Road, which has been set aside by the Diocese as a Rescue Home, in accordance with the decision of Synod. The house has been furnished throughout largely by the gifts of parishes and districts and individual Church people. The Head Deaconess has a competent Matron of the Home in the person of Nurse Carter, and the institution is now ready to receive the cases for which the Home has been founded. A considerable number of Church people were present at the service as well as several of the clergy. Canons Mayne and Tuke with the Archdeacon of Hawke's Bay as Chaplain to the Bishop preceded him to the entrance to the house. A hymn was sung, and after Prayers had been offered by the Bishop, he delivered an address in which he summed up the history of the movement which led to the establishment of tihe Home, and spoke of the necessity for the Diocese to care for its own who stood in need of help. The appeal for help in the estaibjUshment of the Home had met with wide response from all parts of the Diocese. Further the Bishop stated a beginning ha'd also been made with regard to the second odject of the Social Work Fund, viz., the training of women for Church work. He looked forward to the rapid development of this. . Women's work was greatly needed among! the Maoris, and asked for by them and would also be invaluable in our parishes and districts. An extension to the Home had been made by part of the building used formerly as the Children's Home being removed to the house site. The expense of the alteration and fitting up of this had to be met, and he appealed for financial help for this object. The Bishop referred with thankfulness to the Blessing pf God upon. the effort already put forth in connection with the work generally, and then called) upon .Archdeacon Ruddock to make a statement with regard to the financial position. The Archdeacon stated that the sum of ;^3OO had originally been asked for in view of the opening of the Home. This had been subscribed ; but it was manifest this sum would have been quite inadequate had the Home not

received generous help in its furnishing. Such had been almost entirely done through gifts of individuals and parishes. The outstanding need at the present time and for the future was that regular annual subscriptions should be given for the upkeep and development of the work. The Home must have a regular income upon which to depend. . At the conclusion of the address the Bishop and the clergy, Deaconess, and others visited the chapel which was dedicated, and from there each room was visited, in which also appropriate prayers were offered. The final prayers were offered in the chapel. A collection was made which amounted to JQ7 19s sd, and a promise of a subscription of was received. The service concluded with the Benediction. REPORT. The following is tlie Report 'and Balance Sheet adopted at a Meeting of the Central Committee, held at the Cathedral Chambers on the morning of May 31-st : — In presenting this first Report of the Social work Fund, it will be well briefly to review the steps taken from the very beginning. In 1912 the Synod passed a Bill, brought forward by the Rev. W. M. Butterfield, to establish a fund providing for Social Work in the Diocese. The three objects were : (1^ Rescue Work, (2) the .training of women Church workers, and (.&) the establishment of a fund for charitable purposes. In 1913 the Synod adopted the recommendation : — 1. That Trustees be appointed. 2. That the Bishop be asked to engage a Deaconess from England to take the oversight of the Rescue Work and, of the development of Women's Work generally in the Diocese. 3. That the clergy be asked to form a Women's Committee in each parish. d. That a Central Committee of women be formed consisting of delegates from each parish. 5. That the Home be established in or near Napier. All this has been carried out : — The Trustees have been incorporated into a Board. In August, 1914, Deaconess Esther Brand arrived from England, where she bad

worked as a Deaconess for nine years, first in the Southward, then in the Ely Diocese. Parochial committees have been formed in the Cathedral and S. Augustine's parishes, Napier, at; Hastings,Havelock North, Taradale, Otane, Waipawa, Waipukurau, Ormondville, Tai&apau Dannevirke, Woodville, Rotorua, Tolaga Bay, Waipiro Bay, and one is shortly to be formed at Gisborne. These (with the exception of Waijpiro Bay) have all been visited by the Deaconess, and are setting to work to collect funds. The Central Committee meets twice a year, under the Presidency of the Bishop. A house {in Burlington Road, belonging to the Diocese, and now called S. .Mary's Home, hgs been renovated at a cost of and furnished; by gifts and donations from the parochial committees and Branches of the Mothers' Union. It is prepared to receive girls who have had a first fall, and are expecting to be mothers, and will keep them in the Home for training for six months after their confinement, with their babies. The House Matron is a certificated nurse. A House Committee consisting of three men and five women, with the Deaconess, ex-officio, meets monthly. Besides the organisation of the Ressue Work, the Deaconess has given a prominent place in her addresses to preventive work and teaching, and has spoken at some meetings on that subject only. With regard to the second object of the Social Work Fund, circumstances have led to a beginning being made sooner than was at first thought possible. A request came last September from the Bishop of Melanesia that candidates for work in Melanesia might be sent to the Training Home for Church Workers that was to be started in the Waiapu Diocese. This proposal was gladly welcomed and in March of this year, the General Secretary of the Melanesian Mission wrote to ask if a lady who had been accepted for the Mission could be received at once for a few months. It was possible to find room for one student. in the Refuge, and she came on April 11th. Two other applications have been received, and in order not to delay this branch of the work, which is evidently urgently needed, part of the adjacent building has been moved neater to pro-

vide additional rtfoms. These ladies pay a moderate fee, just sufficient to cover expenses. The donations ■' towards furnishing will be found in the financial report, in addition there have been anany gifts in kind :— The house linen was provided by linen teas at Tolaga Bay and Waipukurau ; kitchen utensils by the Mothers' Union at Port Ahuriri ; crockery by a tea at Otane. ; the Deaconess' sitting room was furnished by the Cathedral Branch of the Mothers' Union ; the dining room by the Mothers' Union at H'avelock North ; the Matron's room by S. Augustine's Parochial Committee ; various articles of furniture were sent <by the Hastings Committee ; the kitchen table was the gift and work of Mr W. Smith, of the Port Branch of the C.K.M.S. ; the safe was presented by Messrs Holt and Sons ; the Altar in the little chapel was the gift; of the Bishop and Mrs Sedgwick, and the Altar linen is being worked by a Girls' Guild in Gisborne. With regard to the subscriptions some Commiteees were formed last year and began collecting at once, others have been more recently formed and have not yet got in their subscriptions, or have collected only in part ; some Churches gave collections as soon as the scheme was started. This will largely account for the inequality in the amounts from the different parishes. Progress may have been somewhat slow, and the sum raised at present is not large, but we believe foundations have been firmly laid— with earnest prayer and careful thought— and that, by the help of God, the work will go forward. Adopted, May 31st, 1015. WM. WAI^MSI/BY WAIAPU.