A VERY GENEROUS GIFT

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 859, 4 July 1910, Page 3

A VERY GENEROUS GIFT

FOR BOYS' INSTITUTEVALUABLE SECTION IN TASMAN STREET. <8500 FOR BUILDING, The president of the Wellington Boys' Institute, that highly-deserving training ground for boys, informed a DoannoN representative on Saturday that a lady, who wished to remain unknown, has donated to the institute a. valuable section of land in Tnsman Street, opposite the Alexandra Military Depot, Mount Cook, and overlooking Adelaide Road and the Basin Reserve, together with a sum of .£SOO for building purposes. The donor wishes the institute to extend its work so that, in addition to what it is already doing, it will provide boarding accommodation for lads whose wages do not exceed 18s. per week. The only other condition imposed is that building operations on the section shall be commenced within twelvo months from the date of the acceptance of the' gift.

Value of the Ground. The section has a frontage of 41ft. to Tasman Street by a depth of 265 ft., and the value has been ascertained to he 111 the vicinity of .£ISOO, so that altogether tho "windfall" may bo appraised at v£2ooo. Naturally the institute committoo is greatly delighted and encouraged by the substantial support accorded its efforts to help the poorer boys of tho city. A hurried meeting of the committee was at once called at which the following resolution was passed:—"The committee of the Boys' Institute has to place on record its grateful thanks to a lady of Wellington for the gift of a valuable site iu Tasman Street together with the sum of i£soo to help in the erection of a building which will provide accommodation for working boys who are in receipt of wages not exceeding 18s. pur week. The committee further undertakes that it will do its best to have erectile! a building worthy of the giver and the site; and that building operations will commence within a vear from date in the terms of the gift. The committee greatly appreciates the spontaneous nature of the gift and the kindly manner in which it was made; also the fact that no charges whatever are being made in connection with the transfer of the property."

What the Institute Will Do. It has been ascertained bv the committee that the cost of boarding working boys would be at least 15s. per week, lhat sum. however, is considered beyond what young apprentices could afford to pay, and it is proposed to reduce tho amount, to 12s. «d. pel week, and mako up the deficiency by means of an endowment fund. There are a number of boys m Wellington, who come in from the country and outlying townships to learn trades, and others who have no parents, who, with the small wage they get, find the greatest difficulty in tiding over the first few years of their apprenticeship. To these the institute will be of service, and it will also provide a place of refuge for boys when homes are declared by the magistrate not to be fitting places in which young people should bo trained. Boys who are temporarily out of worlc will also be able to go to the institute, and givo their services in the vegetable gardens, or in a small workshop, which will be orected in return for board and lodging.

"The Public Will See us Through," "We have not gone into details about this fund," said tho president, "but wo know that the work commands gener.il sympathy, and we believe that thero are those m the community who will assist us very materially. The Wellington public has neve/- yi ; t seen *s W aul for unv thing m reason. Every year our funds ? 10 "' a "edit balance, and we believe that the public will soe us through this larger scheme of helping the boys. One thing is absolutely certain—tho committee has laid it down as an unchangeable policy that it will not go into debt." At present it is the intention to transfer the entire institute to the new site in lasman Street. . The institute possesses now two buildings in Arthur Street, the brick and concrete hall winch was speciallv erected for its work, am! an adjoining house which was purchased recently. If is thought that the house can easily be sold for .£9OO, the price paid for it. The hall would answer admirably, it is said, for a slore, workshop, or small factory,' a.nd it might suit another society of a similar nature to tho institute. Failing the sale of the buildings they could he let, and tho proceeds used as part of the endowment fund which it is proposed to raise to make up the deficiencies on the board and lodging of the boys.