SYDNEY STREET SOLDIERS' CLUB

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 194, 12 May 1919, Page 2

SYDNEY STREET SOLDIERS' CLUB

AN APPRECIATION BY A SOLDIER. In the course of an appreciation which has appeared in the last- issuo of "Quick returned soldiers' organ, the writer, Major F. Wnite, D.S.O. in commending the work done for the soldiera by the women responsible for the foundins and maintaining; of tho Sydnoy Strtet Club for soldiers, says:- > The venture in Sydney Street was n success from thij very first dwr. The soldiers, many of them boys irom the country, liad no friends in Wellin-ton and to these boys Sydney Street was a haven of refuge. Sympathetic—but not hissy-helpers, a little music, and plenty to oat, made' the club a home aiviiy from home. , .»

When the Main Body leff.it was thought that tho work was over, but it had only begun. Every night from lrontham (those were the days of "business as .usual") the trains brought in their frieght of khaki, and men who' had no dofinito plans would go up to Sydney Street and "put in.an hour." ' Everybody should read the passage in "Tlie Student in Arms," which dcjds with the soldier of spare time. Man" have gone to tho dovil because there whs to 'do.. Here the ' ladies of the , club eteppod in, and a host of mothers and sweethearts in tho country districts aro still unaware that the good comradeship of tho Sydney Street Club was largely instrumental in saving their bOys in thoir first contact with life in a Big. city. The women of' Wellington did a miignificmit work in taking the soldiers into their own homes and giving the homesick boys those all-too-lleeting glimpses of real homo-life. Tho lonely,soldier problem was a.very real one—wo'aro all-lonely souls—all-tho things that matter must be faced quietly and alone. The soldier, unless he be a very strong-minded man, will meet questionable women if he doesn't, meet good ones. This applies as much to.the cities of New Zealand as it does to Cairo and London. '.Human nature is hiimaji nature all the world over. Thank God, the women of Wellington sensed the situation in 19U, and-organised the Sydney*' Street Club.

Right through 191-1, 1315, -1916, and 1917 the ladies prepared their musical programmes, cut' the- huge piles of eandwiches, furnished the cakes,' boiled eggs, and infused tho .tea for thousands of soldiers hankering alter' a change from the camp bread and jam, and tho seem-ingly-nccossary monotony of the army slew. This all fust money, but the spirit that prompted the -service also found the mqu(\y. It was considered that the reduction in the suburban train servico would stop the soldiers coming to town.from .Trent.hnm every night, and the 'question 'arose whether it was- wise to -keep the club open daily as heretofore, or-whether it would be sufficient to open only on Wednesdays and week-ends. But it was soon apparent that soldiers at a loose-end drifted round the city every- day—the trains and tho steamers, brought men who had a few hours tp spare—and the.ladies gallantly enid- that as long as half a dozen soldiers wanted the f«rvice of. tho, club, they should havo it. This brought new trials, for tho.se who had to prepare for. say, Tuesday night anticipated .twenty callers, and then a ferxy steamer would, enmo late, and four hundred men returning from leave would bo, adrift for hours in the city "Let's go. up to tho club" would bo the cry. \ Soon the' ladies, who really should have' besn overwhelmed, were in touch with /thecake, shops and emergency helpers, who sped by car :and motor to "the club."' The rule seemed to be never- to turn away a man unfed, becauso tho.ladies, of Wellington; like their sis-tors- all over the world, know that a hungry man is-never over-joyful. : - So things went oil until the armistice, about which '"time the. epidemic'burst in all its fury upon Wellington. ■ .The club was turned into-an' , :'emergency hospital, and once rigain did heroic work, fov the , community at -large. •'• -;.- Arid iiow the war is over, great steamers, are brinsin? the men homo again. 'Hun-. drotls of thoso who.walked up Sydney Street will never"coino-back; but the' club will bo remembered % thousands of our fighting men who 'have since carried the fair name of New Zealand into, thfi far corners of the earth. ■ • ' Prom now on it is .natural that the Ee ; turned Soldiers' Club in Lambton -Quay' should take up tlio work of ontertninin:;.' tho soldier on his, return, jtcccgnis'ing' this, tho committee.of the Sydney Street., Soldiers' Club has .most generously hand-; ed to ourclub-iu-Lambton ,Q.uay. their handsome surplus of .? : }59 ISs. 9d. . Now 'Zealand- soldiers never.foi'gel, the ladies of Wellington. It everyone in this country tackled the soldi.ef.pTob--lorn in (he same-spirit...there would soon cease to be any returned soldier problem' at all. • The soldier only, wants, to be treated-like a man—which.is exactly what tlio ladies of, Wellington, havo done'in the last live years of: war.". ' ...