ELTHAM BOYS' HOME

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 264, 27 July 1918, Page 8

ELTHAM BOYS' HOME

A SUCCESSFUL INSTITUTION.

One of the rftost successful of. the many, successful institutions established by the Salvation Army in prosecution of 'their) social work in the Dominion is the Kith,nn Boys' Home. The home, which! established some nine years ago, was 11 gift.by Mr. Thomas Jenkins, a local officer of the Salvation Army, who gave it' as a memorial to his 'wife. Ths Home.'which'stands in ten acres, on an eminence one mile from the town proper, is capable of accommodating fiftythree boys and a staff of officers. Tho' cost of the property was .£4OOO. The. handsome premises of the home stand in full view of nil passengers by railway. Gold and silver medals are presented by the residents of Eltham every year for ' the various competitions, and' it is estimated that fully 50 per cent, of the population of the place attend the annual demonstration given by the boys. A, few weeks ago Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, JiI.P. for the district, gave a donation of .£IOO towards providing a swimming bath' for the boys, which will ,be a new feature of the home this 'year. The average number of boys in the home is fifty., I'.very boy ill the home at present ig either an orphan or a semi-orphan, and many of them are so situated owing to;, the exigencies of the great war. Bough-,' jy, their training may be divided as fol-, lows:—Manual (dairy and farm work),' nicntal (primary and technical), physical' (Swedish drill and gymnastics of all kinds),' spiritual (Christian history and the principles of Christianity). It is in ,the physical drill .thnt the boys of this , home have especially excelled, and they have won great praise both from civil and military critics. Tim expert brought out from England by the Government to teach Swedish drill to the soldiers at l'eatherston, said, after seeing the boys at work, that tho boys were equal, if not superior, to any youths' performance ho had ever witnessed. The boys of tho home not only play at soldiers, but fjiiito a number of them have passed through thp home, reached the military age, au<t joined up with the Empire's" forces at the front. It is interesting to recall that when llie home was opened tho donor was given the honour of nominating the first two boy inmates. He nominated .the two sons of a widow of a seafaring man who had been drowned at latea. The eldest boy, then about' eleven years of age, was made number one on (he homo register. He grew to manhood,, onlisted for action'abroad, and only a few months ago news arrived that he had given his life for freedom on tho battlefields .of. Flandjrs. The laders of the ' Army' regret that there is lio feasible method of transporting the whole of Wellington to view this nije nomc, but they have arranged the next best thing—a visit to Wellington by •?i /T s llcx ' : ,vee k« when, in conjunction i » A g ' r ' 3 *' le Wellington Children s Home, they will provide an attractive entertainment in the Town Hall on Wednesday. On that occasion I tho public will be able to get a grasp of tho good work that is being done at tlm Russell . lemukn, Island Bay, and Elthaiu Boys' Homes.