ROSE DAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2618, 13 November 1915, Page 11

ROSE DAY

Y,M.C.A.'S BIG EFFORT

THE EMBLEM OF HOPEFULNESS

"List and learn, ye dainty : rosss, Hoses white and rows red, ■ Why we bind you into posies, Ere your morning bloom has fled.

Fair New Zealand's sons are fighting, Else they lie on beds of paiii. ,We would give |them ease and comfort Make them lit to fight again.

Brave hearts, too, have " ceased their ■' beating*, , - ■ ' Hail to them in their repose! For the rest, list our entreating, Help our Soldiers! BUY A HOSE!"

The rose .never had a fairer nor sweeter.mission than tliat with which it was entrusted yesterday, and ons could not help reraombering W. ft. Gilbert's pretty lines, which preface the above verses, or witnessing tho at work, all day yesterday, binding "the roses into posies" for the better being of the New Zealand soldiers .at. the l front and in the hospitals and convalescent camps, and homos. of Egypt, and Malta. in this field or Christian endeavour the Y.M.C.A. are doing notable work, ;.nd the idea to supplement the funds for such work by means: of hold-, ing a Rose Day in Wellington was'a very hafppy one indeed.'. The central depot for -the receipt of the roses, and the binding oE them into posies, was the spacious gymnasium of the Y.M.C.A. in Upper Willis Street, where twelve long tables were', placed, each bearing a-number. These numbers corresponded with the: stands—solidly built table 6tands—in the principal streets, and it was the work .of the ladies engaged at the gymnasium to keep their respective stands well supplied with roses, white and red. Some 200 young ladies were attached to the stands, and,as the result of their winning selling powers, there wore few men about town yesterday who did' not sport a rose in the coat lapel.. Above: each stand was" a calico streamer emblazoned with the words "Help Our Soldiers," an appeal that very few cared to resist. • . . •

Apart from that the roses were worth the money. Mr. Varney, the organiser of the movement, stated,that no'fewer than 45 boxes of roses arrived by post yesterday morning, and 100 boxes were Received by railway up till noon yesterday, and they were still pouring in from those places where , the needs of ihe day had been made known; And where did they all come from? From the Wairarapa, Wanganui, Palmerston Worth/ Levin, Manakau,, Otaki, 'tho Hutt, and other Wellington suburbs, Picton, Blenheim,. Nelson, Cliristchurch,and even from Hamilton. They scented the air from Courtenay Place, to the G.P.0., from Veitcli dud Allan's corner to the Government' Buildings, and every bud -and blossom carried with it a sweet thought for those who are battling for Kill!; and country, .for you and I.

The twelve .street stalls were arranged as follows:—Veiteh and Allan's Corner, Miss Allan and helpers; Courtenay Place, Mrs. Rowntrce; Winder's Corner, Mrs. Fossette; Boulcott Street Corner, Mrs. Low; Mercer Street, Miss Maxwell; Bank of New Zealand, Mrs. von Haast; General Post Office, Mrs. Moorhouse; Bristol Corner, Mrs. Moorhouse; Woodward Street, Miss Isaacs; Gov-, eminent Buildings, Mrs. ~ Chatfield; I.ambtoh Station, Mrs. Bethune; Kelburn Car; Mrs. ,R. Pearson and Mrs.. W. H. George. ' '

The ladies of Johnsonville, with Mrs. Bethune as convener, made a thorough canvass of Ngaio, Khandallah, and Johnsonville.

The Rose Carnival will'he continued to-day. . Valuable Donations. .

■Mr: Varney, secretary of 'the Y.M.C.A., yesterday received a cheque for £10 from a Marlborough wool' grower, who described himself as being "in a small way" and the £10 as "war profit." The donor also , adds that he will devote ctlier of his ; war profits to the Y.M.C.A. Fund, belie7uig this way of benefiting the soldiers on service preferable to others. Mr. Varney is also, keeping a pot for the receipt of old gold and eilvor—any old bits of jewellery .that can either be melted down, for its intrinsic value ori realised on for the benefit of the fund. Yesterday he received <i case of beautiful gold and silver teaspoons, decorated in coloured enamels, (each spoon a different colour), also a diamond breast-pin and a gold locket.