AUCKLAND RAGGED SUNDAY SCHOOL.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1721, 6 September 1862, Page 4

AUCKLAND RAGGED SUNDAY SCHOOL.

We have received a copy of a little pamphlet, printed at this office, and entitled the "Origin, Rise and Progress of the Auckland Ragged Sunday School." To those who have been aware of the existence of this institution amongst us, and to those who for the first time may now become cognizant of the fact, we would earnestly recommend the perusal of the simple narrative which its pages contain. The reader will find there an unaffected and modestly detailed account of the experiences of a few zealous young men, who, following the divine preeept of Him who said, " sutler little children to come unto me, and forbid them not," entered upon the discharge of a duty the very nalure of which, were it not for the sustaining influence of the spirit which prompted it, could not but be irksome and even repulsive to a refined mind. After many difficulties, however, in the mouth of January, 1861, the present" Auckland Ragged Sunday School" was established.

We believe we are but doing justice to the charitable and benevolent feelings of the Auckland public when we state that it is to be attributed to the modest and unobtrusive manner in which these excellent young men sought to do good almost as it were by stealth,” that so little public sympathy and assistance has been rendered to them in the carrying out of their work. We believe that it was not until the larger work of instituting an industrial school was mooted, and a meeting held fur the purpose of enlisting the public sympathy and aid, that it became generally known that there already existed amongst us a Sunday ragged school, with its selfappointed superintendent, oilicers, and teachers. How much good has resulted from these efforts during the past eighteen months may ho collected from the fact that the number of children attending the school which is held in the Mechanics’lnstitute every Sabbath afternoon,amounts to between seventy and eighty; and in the difference between the unruly conduct of the children gathered at the first few meetings, and the decorum and order which now prevails. The simple balance sheet of receipts and expenditure, amounting to only £3O on either side, which appears on the last page, strikingly shows how much has been left to the Zealand piety of the teachers, how little the public, and those who advocate philanthropy upon the platform, have taken their share of the burden. To those who would judge for themselves of the value and worth of this institution we would say “accept the invitation given by the teachers, to visit the school while assembled on Sunday afternoons,” but at any rate bestow a few minutes on the perusal of one of the most interesting narratives which has yet appeared of experiences amongst the Auckland poor who inhabit our “rookeries.” The pamphlet is sold at fid., and may he had of the booksellers.