CHILDREN'S PORT WAIKATO CAMP,

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17980, 27 March 1930, Page 9

CHILDREN'S PORT WAIKATO CAMP,

(To the Editor.) Sir. —Early this year I paid a visit ! to the Waikato Children's Camp ! League's camp at Port Waikato, and j I feel in duty bound to express to you my sense of appreciation of the very fine work the League is doing- for those children who, hut for the selfsacrificing efforts of the League, would be denied a holiday during the summer. The 190 children we saw in camp impressed us as being thoroughly happy and carefree, and compared with their appearance when , we saw them leave for their 10 days j sojourn at Port Waikato, they looked j the picture of health. 1 could not i help remarking on the splendid way ■ in which the children were catered • for at meal time. The camp site is | ideally situated.. There is a good ( motor road from Hamilton to Port ( Waikato via Tuakau. The camp is iocated in a sheltered valley about half a mile from the Port Waikato wharf. It is bordered by a steep hillside crowded with luxuriant native bush. There is a strip of level grassy land in the foreground, and along one border a little stream flows gently over a bed of sand and pebbles. The area comprises 34 acres, which were given to the League by Mr Edward 1 Spargo, of Port Waikato. The trip to the camp from Hamilton is a delightful one. Points of great historic interest are passed en route. The Rangiriri battle ground with the Maori trenches still visible and a concretefenced cemetery standing as a mute reminder of the grim turmoil which went on round it is passed on the way. Further on the road leads to the famous Alexandra Redoubt. It is a winding way through pretty little valleys, and it eventually follows, the edge of the river, which is five miles wide at one place and is clustered with green little islands fringed with willow trees. Near the mouth the estuary widens and miles of curving beaches of sand are revealed. The preparation of the camp and the- plans made for the children’s meals and entertainment impressed me as beiug a triumph of organisation. A capable woman cook . was employed in the kitchen and a handy-man was kept to do much of the heavy work which is necessarily involved in such an undertaking. All the other services - rendered were done voluntarily by the members of the committee and the prefects who accompanied them. The hoys and girls were accommodated in separate camps, a stream dividing- the areas in which boys and girls spent the night. The Waikato Camp League’s scheme is one which should commend itself to all who have the welfare of the children at heart, and I should like to see the camp more extensively used In future by relays of children from different parts of the Auckland province. The League’s plans for extending the buildings anu Improving the grounds are commendable, and I trust that those who can assist the League will see to it that funds are not wanting to complete Lie programme and to enable the splendid work being carried on from year to year.—l am, etc., FRANK FINDLAY Hamilton, March 25.