A SOLDIERS' INSTITUTE FOR CAWNPORE. [To TIM EDITOR OP TRH
"Sexcreree.1 Sia,—By kindly publishing a letter of appeal for this object in your issue of April 21st you gave the scheme its first real start, for, besides making the difficulties of the soldier's life known, it was the means of gaining £36 3s. to the funds of the Institute. I am venturing to ask you to recall the matter once more to the minds of your readers, as I am sailing for India on September 12th, and am most anxious to do what I can before that date. My appeal on April 21st was for £2,600 to provide an institute and recreation-ground free of charge to all the soldiers of the garrison. In a footnote you expressed the opinion that I have always held myself, that it was the duty of the Government of India to provide the latter. From information received, I have now every hope that they will be persuaded to do this. I now therefore limit my appeal to £2,000 for the building and furnishing of the Institute as a memorial to the birth of Lord Roberts in Cawnpore. May I once more summarise the main objects and aims of the Institute, which should surely interest every man and woman who cares for the well-being of our Army in India P- (1) To provide a home and a club, with reading, writing, and entertainment rooms, and all indoor games for every soldier in the garrison. This will take away the great reproach so constantly on his lips that no one cares for his life in India, and that he has no respectable place to go to outside barracks, and no reasonable relaxation or employment for his long leisure hours.
(2) To provide facilities for temperance meetings, debating societies, and classes on subjects useful for civil life for the more thoughtful of our men.
(8) To provide by means of a devotional room spiritual help for those who feel the need of it, where privacy will be possible,—a valuable help for the religiously minded man, who has to share his room with one hundred and twenty others not always like- minded.
Thus in its ordinary routine the Institute should benefit all those many types of men who make up our Army. It will help to save the careless from a vicious life by offering them some pleasures more attractive. It will benefit the thoughtful and ambitious by giving them an outlet for their energies and a chance of self-improvement. It will be of invaluable help to the few who care for spiritual things in spite of much discouragement. I have .2630 already in hand, and a further definite promise of .8500 from the Central Society provided I can raise £1,500 by the end of the year. May I then make a further appeal to all your readers who care for our soldiers to help me in this scheme, which is both soundly practical and urgently necessary, in spite Of those ever-pressing local claims, which make it such uphill work to raise money for so distant a part of our Empire ?
It is difficult to conceive any scheme in which a capital of £2,000 could give a greater return of usefulness, for when once built and furnished the Institute will be supported by the profits on the temperance bars and tea and supper rooms. Moreover, its well-being will not depend on the zeal or interest of any private individual liable to be transferred to another station at any time, but will be in the hands of a representative Committee of officers and civilians, and affiliated to the Church of England Soldiers' and Sailors' Institutes Association, who will receive an annual report and audited balance-sheet.
I have in my possession letters from Mr. Haldane, Lord Roberts, Lord Kitchener, General Sir John French, and every General Officer who comes into contact with Cawnpore warmly approving the scheme, copies of which, and any further information, together with a statement of accounts up to August let, will be gladly forwarded on application, while all donations will be most thank- fully received, care of Messrs. Grindley and Co., 54 Parliament Street, S.W.
Chaplain of Cawnpore.
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