HOME OF COMPASSION

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1368, 20 February 1912, Page 6

HOME OF COMPASSION

NEW HALL OPENED,

MOTHER AUBERT'S NOBLE WORK

PRAISED BY THE GOVERNOR

The Jubilee Ward, Hie latest. ndiliMon tn tlie Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aiibcrt's Home of Comp.issinu at Island Bay, was formally opened yesterday by his Excellency the Governor. About fifty persons attended the ceremony. Besides the Governor and his aide-de-camp, there wire present: Tito Kev. Mother .Mary Joseph Aubert, and members of. the staff of the institution. Lady Ward and Miss AVard, Archbishop I'edwond, and a number of lliu clergy of the diocese, Messrs. Martin Kennedy, T. G. Jl'C'arthv, and H S Wardeli.

Archbishop Redwood, on behalf of the Rev. Mother Aubert, welcomed his Excellency, and stated that the hall, erected for the benefit of little children, had been paid for with the Jubilee money recently presented to the Rev. Mother Aubert. The Jubilee Fund. Lord Islington, in commencing his address, Tegretted that illness prevalent in the Home would prevent the visitors having access to the main building. He felt sure that otherwise there would have been a very large gathering of people, who would have seised the opportunity of showing once more to the Reverend Mother and her colleagues the deep interest felt in tho work done in connection with this home. As Archbishop Redwood had said the building had been paid for out of tie. fund that was raised upwards of _ a year ago to celebrate the jubilee of the Reverend Mother's splendid work in social progress in this Dominion. The aggregate amount collected upon that occasion was about .£2300. Ihe amount actually to bo disposed of was something under .£IBOO, and (hat sum had been practically absorbed in the weetion of Hie admirable building they were in that afternoon. This sum of money was raised, and raised willjngly,by pennlo of all ages and creeds, to oilable them to give expression to. their gratitude and admiration for the splendid and uninterrupted work that the Reverend Mother bad carried on in (his town and in New Zealand for the protracted period of fifty years. The money collected was handed to the Reverend Mother Aubert to be expended entirely at her own judgment and discretion. With that rare and wonderful indifference in personal position which had always eharaetorisfd her lift), she immediately devoted her mind to Die allocation of the money to sonic public purposa connected with the institution. All would agree that (his hall would be a very great addition to the future usefulness of the ( home. So great at was the demnnd for accommodation in the main biiildins that no room could be definitely set aside for one of the most important branches of worV in the institution. From now onwards this hall would be devoted to the extension of kinderearten work, and to nt'ier forms of recreation and of education, which Tier" nart and parcel of the work for the children. A Many-sidel Work. There were five practicil branches connected with the institution Ths first received those children who were- under tho cat-gory of incurables. .These children, who were certainly entitled • to ■ full sympathy and compassion, found • their way here to receive careful nurture and attention, though any hope of-their cure was very'remote. Another branch might be characterised'as a Children's Hospital. Children admitted here were given full medical and surgical atientifin and all the care of a hospital. At present children had only restricted, opportunities of being admitted to the General Hospital. Presently, with others, he would take pnrt in'opening a large and up-to-date children's wing at tho Wellington General Hospital. When this had been done it wight be hop.ul that this particular branch at the. Homo of Compassion, which had rendered invaluable service in the past, would be materially relieved. The third branch was a convalescent home, to which children were admitted who had been discharged from hospital without attaininga complete recovery ot health. Then there was a branch kuown as "tho temporaries," which was of particular value, as it enabled parents of the industrial classes, who were unable to give full and constant attention to children of tender years, to send their children to the home for a period, to be carefully looked after and enjoy all tho benefits of an attentive home. This was an inestimable boon to many poor families in. the . city of Wellington. The fifth branch was. a foundlings home, to which, since 1905, sixty-eight children had been admitted.

Preventing Human Waste. All must agree that, a splendid work was being carried out at tho Home of Compassion. It was charitable in the highest sense, and was being carried out on thoroughly practical lines. His hxcellencv eulogised the intimate knowledge and "sympathy that the Hcv. Mother Aubert and her colleagues had of the me of struggles' and hardships lived by many families of tho industrial class in Wellington. There was a very definite value ti the State and to the community in such an institution as this carried out on practical lines. It was, in the truest sense, economic, since it had the effect, in many instances, of preventing what he. might describe, as nothing, more nor less than human waste. Many of the small children in this institution, he understood, when they attained a .sufficient age, would bo trained in the various branches of-do-mestic work. All connected with tho institution, from the I?e.v. Mother Anbnrt downwards, had set out. as their chief mission, to protect, shield, and encourage those who most needed protection and encouragement, to enable them to resist tho temptations-'of the world, and to overcome the frailties to which all, in greater or lesser degrf-e, were, prone. His Excellency congratulated the P.ev. Mother Aubert upon realising her ambition of addin? this hall to the institution under her charge, and extended his congratulations also to the Sisters who were present and to the town of Wellington in possessing such an institution, and a band of devoted women who, firom year to year, and from decade to decade, were doing their utmost to mitigate the suffering of those who were least able to take care of themselves and to give them courage and strength to fight the battle of life in the years to come.

Concluding, Lord Islington formally declared the hall opei.

Archbishop Redwood briefly thanked his Excellency on behalf of Mother Hubert.