The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1891. DR BARNARDO'S HOMES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1283, 9 January 1891, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1891. DR BARNARDO'S HOMES.

A few days ago .ye drew attention to the claims of this noble institution to the support of the benevolent, and make no apology for returning to the subject, m view of the fact that His Worship the Mayor has kindly taken the matter up, and called a meeting of ladies and gentlemen interested for this evening at 8 o'clock atthe Borough Chambers. There are m the Homes m London at the present moment nearly 4000 waifs, and as . the winter m England has been and is terribly severe, while hundreds of children are homeless and foodless, and Dr Barnardo's funds are exhausted, an urgent appeal is being made for generous aid from Australasia as well as other parts of the world. As but few people have any idea of the magnitude of the work which is being carried on we reprint here a number of particulars collated by our contemporary the " Southland Times: —" Besides the great Ceatral institution m Stepney Causeway, which is the General Office and includes a Voluntary Home providing maintenance, education, and practical instruction m eleven technical handicrafts to' about 400 boys over 13 years of age - besides this, there are actually 40 institutions and agencies for the rescue, reclamation, emigration, and setting up m industrial life of the lost, deserted, helpless, and strayed of both sexes, from mere babyhood up to 19 and 20 years. A work so gigantic and multifarious is staggering even to the imagination, and the labour of supervision must tax a multitude o£ energetic brains, all under the direction of what must be the singularly capable Head that devised and keeps the whole machinery m motion. It is almost impossible to resist the temptation to dilate a little —and we instance as among the most interesting of the branches, the Open All Night Refuge, where ' every wanderer finds an open door, where he or she is welcomed,' and which had passed through it 2720 children during 1889 : the Labor House for Destitute Youths, of 17 and upwards, who are drafted off, after due testing, to situations at home, or at sea, or to Canada as emigrants ; 1750 lads having gone through this institution m • 1889 : the three Emigration Centres m Canada : the Village Home for Girls, m Essex, with accommodation for 1000 girls, and the Rescue Home for young girls m moral peril; the Convalescent Home, m Suffolk ; and the Babies' Castle, m Kent—with others of hardly, if at all, inferior interest, which we must leave unnamed." From a circular received frob Dr. Barnardo to-day by the San Francisco Mail, we learn that durijg the last 24| years, that is Up to December, 1890, nearly 17,00\) children of the poorest and most miserable class have been "lifted for life out of the slums and gutters of East London to be trained civilised and christianised," and thertare thousands of others whom Dr. Barnardo is now earnestly seeking to rescue aud to save. He writes:— ,"Of the children delivered from indescribable degradation I have already placed out m the colonies 4281, of whom not quite 2 per cent have proved ultimate failures ! And m the Homes under my care there are today some 3650 others Requiring food, raiment, education, andjndustrial training, and constituting thelargest family of orphan and destitute children on earth. Besides these there Jet remains that vast army of helpless ' waifs and strays' whom night and r^y our agents are seeking out and gathering m from the lowest dens m the metropolis, and from the custody of persona of degraded or criminal life who wouM ruin them body and soul. To continue this Divine Mission 1 need the help of Christian people everywhere, and I confidently ] r«4y upon all who have the best interests of their country at heart, and who pity and love little chiidten, to hold up my hands during the coming wiriter'sstrugglewith sin and suffering." This appeal will, we are persuaded, not be made m vain, and She Mayor deserves tfce jfch/inks of the people of Ashburton for having taken the lead m a movement which has for its object, an organised effort m aid of one of the most deserving benevolent institutions m existence