NAVY LEAGUE (OTAGO BRANCH).

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 65

NAVY LEAGUE (OTAGO BRANCH).

The monthly meeting of the above was held at the Education Board Office on Friday afternoon, when "there were present — Mr James Allen, M.P. (in the ohair) , Messrs W. SibbaJd, F. Warte, J. Jeffery, A. Eooles, P. G. Pryde, W. A. Moore, G. Ritchie, G. B. Bullock, W F Edmond, R. S- Black, and the secretary. The Secretary reported as follows : — - Since the lest meeting of the committee (July 23) tihe sum of £43 14s has been . received. The bank balance is £202 15s 6d- It may interest the committee to know that the secretary during his fiv;' months of office, despite some defect-ions, has received a larger sum in subscriptions , than the "total receipts for the / 12 months ended 31st March, 1909. This result hao been obtained without engaging the services of a oollector. The Finance Committee has approved the payment of thtj following:— Scoullar and Chisholm (lan- - tern slide boxes), £6 2s; Stone and Co. (cards for Encounter and envelopes), JB2 ' 0s 6d; Cohlls, Culling, and Co., 10s. A,* letter has been forwarded to the head- '-_ quarters of the league in re suggested t -changes in- -the Na-vy Magazine, and cir- ) cular letters have been sent to the second- rk ary schools in r«"the league's senior essay-^ competition. Correspondence is proceed- " ing with the Teachers' Institute in re the joint work of -the league.. The president - of the institute makes the suggestion rba#^) a conference between -two or three dele- \ gates from fhe league's committee and the w same number from the executive of the * i institute would be the best plan to adopt, -• (Messrs Moore, Black, Morrell, and the secretary were appointed a cub* - committee to confer with the institute. J '*' ! The boys - and teachers of the district \ schools to the number of 596 were taken . to Port Chalmers on August 7 to visit * H.M.S. Encounter. The arrangements, , f ! which were under the management of M* Eccles, were carried out with characteristic thoroughness, and the trip was an enjoy-,, able one. [A vote of thanks was accorded. Mr Eocles by the committee.] In re. r , school branches: The secretary's circular letter to the schools of the provincial dis- . trict, as well as personal interviews, ha* .. resulted in- branches being formed and!' — revived in the following schools : — Green, i Island, 52 members ; Maori Hjll, 44 ; South' -- i Oamaru, 43; Alexandra South, 35; Mussel- , | burgh, 33; Kaikorai, 33; George Street, '. 25; Normal, 24; Moerakf, 20; Mornington, 20; Ngapara, 18; N.E. Harbour, 16; Wai-, kouaiti, 14; Otepopo, 11; Duntroon, 10; Port Chalmers (new additional), 10; Anderson's Bay, 9; Kurow, 6; — a total of 423 members of school branches. Maps have been sent to the Moeraki and t Alexandra Schools and to the Dunedin, Navals, and lantern lectures have been ; given at Leith " Valley, Kaikorai. andf Ngapara Schools. Mr Jas. Allen, M.P., ? will deliver a lantern address in the Bal- '} clutha District High School on the 31st 'J inst. ' f The secretary and Mr Waite, with thcfi object of creating greater interest in the -5 League's Prize Competitions, are atiuiis^.j ing for instruction classes in signalling ow.s the four Saturdays in September at the f Garrison Hall. Each school has been asked. g to send six pupils who are willing to avail f I themselves" of this opportunity. I Lieutenant-colonel Smyth has the shoots ing, signalling, and bugling competitions^ in hand, and the offioers commanding' the -x school battalions have been advised. The* | sum of £5 5s has-been received from the*; I New Zealand Warehousemen's Association ■?. !on account of the prize fund. The sum,/ of £50 has been forwarded to the Home * Office. " "<" < The secretary's suggestion that he and-* Mr Waite be authorised to rent the Gar.- \ rieon Hall and to arrange a programme • for Trafalgar Day — a draft report to be-? submitted at the next committee meeting— "| was approved. ' •* ! After discussion Messrs Allen, Black,' ' Waite, Macdonald, and the secretary wew' appointed a committee to decide on th«form the prizes for the shooting, signal-'* ling, and bugling competitions should takeVl the general feeling was that a challenge cup^ and medals would be preferable to money* prizes. ' - "1 — "■— — — — — — » -a " Less than a mile from the Mel- j bourne Post Office," said the Rev. G. H£ Cole, during a lecture in Christchurch, * "there is a place we call Hell's Corner,^ near Cut-throat Alley, and it is in places,! like these that the same wretched squalidconditions prevail as exist in the slums* of London." " '«j