YWCA appeal for funds

The Returned Soldiers' Association's proposed clubhouse, Moray Pl, Dunedin. - Otago Witness, 21.5...
The Returned Soldiers' Association's proposed clubhouse, Moray Pl, Dunedin. - Otago Witness, 21.5.1919
There  is no loneliness like that of the young girl working in a strange city away from her home.

The men have their comrades and their clubs, and the conventions allow them a liberty of action in their search for amusement which is denied to their sisters. The young man's patronage is sought by lodging-house landladies, while the young woman is too often regarded as "a nuisance'' - for some inscrutable reason - and her application for board and lodging is looked on with a cold eye. If an organisation to provide a comfortable home for young men away from home, and to supply recreative facilities for the male youth of the city, is desirable, then such an organisation is ten times more necessary to make provision for the girls. Yet it may safely be said that for one pound which has been subscribed towards the Young Women's Christian Association, many pounds have been donated from the public pocket to further the work of the Men's Association across the street. For some years the Y.W.C.A. has been doing splendid work for the young womanhood of Dunedin. The last occasion on which the public were asked for funds was some six years ago, when a sum of $4000 was contributed. With that sum Braemar House, next door to the building already in existence, was purchased, and turned into a hostel with accommodation for 40 girls. From the start the accommodation was inadequate, but with arrangement it was made to serve the purpose. The system followed has been to find lodgings for girls after a certain period of residence in the hostel, in approved houses, of which the association has a list. In this way 517 girls passed through the hostel last year. But 40 beds are totally inadequate to cope with the need. Every year crowds of girls come to the city, and the association is unable to take them in. The value of hygenic and comfortable surroundings and of physical culture in keeping the body in a state to resist disease, was demonstrated at the local Y.W.C.A. during the recent epidemic. Of the girls resident in the hostel, few caught the disease, and those who did suffered from only a mild form. The non-resident girls who attended the physical culture classes were also noticeably immune. But those whose occupation keeps them indoors for many hours daily, and who neglected the opportunities for bodily development afforded by the association in the evenings, were found to suffer severely.

Destructive gold dredging

"I sincerely hope there will be no revival of such a destructive process of gold recovery as that of dredging,'' said the Hon. G. M. Thomson in his presidential address last night to the Otago Institute. "It is difficult to estimate how much every ounce of gold recovered by this process in Otago has cost but one fact is clear: that in striving to satisfy the lust for gold hundreds of acres of valuable land have been destroyed.''

Firemen delay ferry

A Press Association message from Christchurch states that the Maori did not arrive until 10.15 yesterday morning. A full complement of firemen was obtained, but several of the men were so incapacitated through drink that they were unable to attend to their work. Two of the ship's boilers could not be used, and the vessel consequently came down under greatly reduced speed. - ODT, 14.5.1919

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