Wards of the State Get Equal Chance

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 581, 6 February 1929, Page 1

Wards of the State Get Equal Chance

FITTING THEM FOR LIFE

SUCCESSFUL SCHEME The road travelled by the lad who becomes the ward of the State through unfortunate circumstances, such as committal to an orphanage, is not always as rocky as it might promise to be. This is being demonstrated at an hostel in Mt. Albert run conjointly by the Costley Trustees, the Child Welfare Branch of the Education Department, and the Y.M.C.A. Here an interesting and valuable work, long past the experimental stage, is being done, and some 15 lads are being prepared for their future work. As time goes by they are matriculating and being drafted into positions suitable to their inclinations, and the results have been most gratifying to those who conceived the idea. The scheme actually was commenced in 1923, when an hostel was secured in Mt. Eden, and a number of boys who had recently secured their proficiency certificates were taken in hand. The boys were: selected because of their promise, and the object was to give them a chance they otherwise had little prospect of getting. The three organisations mentioned met the liability, and the management of the hostel was left in the hands of the Y.M.C.A. The idea was to enable the boys to secure a secondary education, then to find for them positions where they could make the best use of it.

Even if the boys did not maintain their promise and had to be drafted out again, experience has shown that a knowledge gained of their inclinations has enabled them to be placed in positions where prospects were good. ALL GIVEN A CHANCE Five years have passed since the hostel was started, and a second lot of boys are well on their way to striking out for themselves. Of the first lot ono or two did not complete their studies, and the others are scattered round, apprenticed to chemists, printers, engineers, and architects—to mention a few. Four of the boys went out to positions last year, and this year four more have been taken in, two from Timaru and two from Invercargill. Three of the four on leaving passed their matriculation examination. aud one is going on to study for a bursary, jnie other was not a student, and has b?en found another good chance. A glance over the lads fails to distinguish them from a better class of lads who are attending the secondary schools of the city. Last year four of T w ***, Tvere placed in the secondary schools’ representative Soccer team that went to Wellington, and three of tnem were prefects at their secondary schools.

This week will mark a new' page in the history of the undertaking, for on Saturday the Minister of Education, the Hon. H. Atmore. will open a new hostel for the lads in Allendale Road. Mt. Albert. The new' hostel is as much a home as such a place can be made, and its capacity will be limited to the present number of boys, with perhaps a couple of additions, the small number being maintained with a Mew* to escaping the institution idea.