Page:Picturesque Dunedin.djvu/262

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PICTURESQUE DUNEDIN.

wing of, and (as far as was requisite) been supported by, the Charitable Aid Board. The Home, capable of accommodating twenty inmates comfortably, is situated on the highest part of Forth street, has a half-acre of ground attached to it, and commands a fine view of the upper part of the bay, the Peninsula, and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The records of this institution form very sad and depressing reading. Notes of all who in the course of years have been inmates have been carefully kept—properly, short biographical sketches, faithfully noting failure when there is failure, and modestly noting success when there is success. Many of these sketches end disappointingly, some very sorrowfully, while here and there gratifying examples of recovery to a permanent better life are cited. The Hon. Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Chapman (widow of the late judge), and other ladies, have from the first, or in the course of the years, been identified with this truly philanthropic and Christ-like agency, and in its noble work Miss McDougall (now laid aside by illness) and the late Miss Lambton took a very active part. There is good reason for the earnest hope that Miss Morrow, the present matron, will long hold office, as in her the young women and girls under her care have a wise and sympathising friend, who spares no effort to help them out of the sea of trouble into which indiscretion has led them.


THE DUNEDIN WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.

This institution was formed in May, 1885, and was the outcome of a visit from Mrs. Leavitt, the world's missionary from the American Women's Christian Temperance Union, and who was sent out to form unions and branch-unions wherever possible. Its object is the total suppression of the liquor traffic, and to that end its committee of ladies strive to influence Parliament by petitions, by helping at elections to return men favourable to the prohibition cause, and in all possible ways to arrest intemperance. Its place of meeting is a large building named Leavitt House, at the foot of Albany street. The building also serves the purpose of a boarding-house for females who desire privacy and quiet; but it is mainly, and to good purpose, used for gospel temperance work, and for juvenile free