Dr Barnado.

Manawatu Herald, 17 September 1892, Page 2

Dr Barnado.

The 26th Anniversary of .the institution of Drßarnardo'g: Homes was celebrated on the 22nd June at the immense Albert Hall, London. Night and Day, describes the proceedings in full, and iskmoii interesting reading. It says :•— lt was a Musical Meeting,-~mairily so some of our friends would have said] ■ . : •..; ■>.•«>»!■■-;■ ,},,;

The choir* -1,50ft atoig, gathered Irom nearly all our Homes, and reinforced fey a small group of adult tenors *nd basses, had a long evening's'work, cut out for them. A. glance at the Programme will show that it ranged from the Oreatien Uhorus, that vast mass of melodious counterpoint, to the vigorous action song of the " Burlesque Band," or the pretty, iFairly-like melody of " 4 Silver Bella." Yet apart from the music, the e» Inhibitions of Musical and Neival JDrill by the girls and boyp drew tvery eye, and the audience would apparently have continued to watch the May-pole rejoicir lg s, and the pretty "physical Exercises" of the girls, till the snvsdl hours. Lord Kinnp.'trd was in the chair and in his Opening address stated — In the fi.vst plaoe, I think I must appeal to you to look at the faces of ■these boys and girls around us here, I do not believe there are any of you who so look at them but must feel your hearts- touched when you think of -what might have been, of what ••• would have been, if it had ttofe been for the work of Br fcarnardo's 'Homes. . . . , The first point, therefore, whicUt think I ought fctt raniind you of with regadl 16 the Qlaims, of this Institution, is this : that during the twenty-six years we r have been at work, we have never shut the door to one boy or girl who was really destitute. .... Do riot go away thinking that if you .sand a boy or girl, he or she , will necessarily he taken in! The case i will first be investigated, and carefully investigated, and only admitted if really "homeless . . . .Then another feature of admission— anti I want, to dwell on that point for a mir.nte — is that children are taken 10 without any payment whatever, ■'jind without any votes being ncces sary in order to get them elected. . ... Then may I just remind you <ot one other feature which I tfhittk I may say is a peculiarity of «©ar Institution, namely, that no physical defect in any boy or girl, however young or however old— from babyhood almost up to adult age— shuts a boy or girl out of the Institution, . . . . I should like to call your special attention to this : that, of the boys and girls entrusted to us 2,200 are being brought , up under the careful oversight and . religious instruction of evangelical clergymen of the Church of England. The remaining half are under the care and ministry of devout Nonconformist ministers. Now, as t£ statistics, we had at the end of last year 4,219 children under Our oare in the Homes. That she; ffa an increase of 520 children Qver the preceding year. Moreover, lince the Homes were we're started, 18,889 children have been helped by their means. Another figure will interest you, namely, that during the twelve months of the year 1891. no fewer than 6,866 children have applied for help, and Of. these, after investigation, 1,717 fresh cases were admitted, making a total of 5,416 helped during the year *You see the difference. The number I have already mentianed, 4,219, is the number at the end of the year. The 5,146 . are those allowing for some coming in and some leaving, making, I suppose, the largest number ever helped by one Institution during any twelve months. Then how are these children dealt with?. We try to train different classes by different means as may seem to us most advisable. Some are sent to Cottage Homes. A thousand girls, for instance, are in the Ilford Cottage Homes. Then others are sent to small Institutions. The number we have emigrated up to the close of last year is. 5,005 boys and girls. . . . *. j The donations and subscriptions given last year amounted to the sum of £181,000, being an increase of . £21, 000 , over the preceding year, which was b^ar the most prosperous . year we ever had. To show that these Hornet have the co-operation . ; of the many and are not supported merely by the few, 1 may tell you •that there were last year 76,590 , separate donations.