SAILORS’ FRIENDLY SOCIETY

Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1930, Page 4

SAILORS’ FRIENDLY SOCIETY

GOVEttNOR’S STATEMENT. vßy Telegraph—Press Association). WELLINGTON, Sept. 10.' This js a lapd of .contrasts, of wind and calmj cold and heat, 1 love of sport and diligence in work; dpR . .cjnema& and empty churches; worldliness - and piety, extravagance and thrift. These remarks were made hy the Governor General, Lord Bledisloe, at the anniversary meeting of the Sailor’s Friendly Society, over which he .presided j “A short time ago,” he snjd,'‘T ; en-. terod a truly magnificent picture house' somewhere in the Dominion with every luxurious appointment, every up id date mechanical device, full of potentialities for good and evil.; Th& manager told me, with pride, it cost a quarter of a million and added it was likely to prove quite a good investment. I wondered hopefully whether it would be as good an investment both morally and otherwise for the nation as it would for the proprietor, Passing along the streets of Wellington oaf the way to the Seamens Institute on a peculiarly dull wet day, I tried to picture the impression of young stranger seamen, possibly belonging to a foreign country-and landing after a long voyage, .on a street of this city feeling a bit lonely, perhaps muddy underfoot and cold and drizzly overhead, and with nothing much to arrest his attention except a cinema poster, some of them cheerfully dramatic, some uninspiring but innocuous, one at least of demoralising suggestivenesfi. While so cogitating, I passed into this building and the contrast is truly delightful! and inspiring.”