No. 17 -- 14 Oct 1931

Mr. N.A. Hughes,
C/o Y.M.C.A. College,
5315 Drexel Avenue,
CHICAGO. Ill. U.S.A.

My dear Noel,

There is a mail leaving this afternoon, so I am dropping you a further line to give you additional news concerning affairs of the Association and at home.

Clipping from The Argus (8 Oct 1931), Page 5

The Queen Crowning Ceremony has been quite a big feature of the past month, and we are happy to say that it turned out to be a splendid success in every way. Each of the departments, Junior, Viking and Senior, "pulled their weight in the boat" and we had  such a multitude of fixtures that it became a severe tax upon everybody. I think in all over  40 separate functions were organised by the three committees in the interests of the Queens.

You can well understand what that meant both inside and outside of the Association. The Crowning Ceremony on Thursday last went off splendidly. Ivor Burge characterised it as "one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen". I think all of the folk who attended the ceremony were favorably impressed, and we have not heard one adverse comment. It meant a whale of a lot of work in preparation, but it was well worth while. I am enclosing a copy of the programme so that you will be able to follow the proceedings. The grand entry of the Queens was a very spectacular and impressive affair.

The voting was continued until about 9.15 p.m., then for a quarter of an hour we did not publish any results. this left the issue entirely in doubt, and during that time people were asked to contribute either in cash or promise, towards the voting for various Queens. When I made the announcement there was great excitement from the supporters of each of the Queens. The voting resulted as follows:--

Queen of Youth -- Kath Lilford --      30579 votes       £127  8  3
Queen of Juniors -- Ruby Davis --     30186 votes      £125:15  6
Queen of Vikings -- Lil. Langham --   22664 votes      £ 94   8  8

A total of £347:12:5. Of course expenses in connection with the effort will have to be deducted and I imagine that somewhere in the neighborhood of £300 will be the nett result. The whole effort was an excellent thing in that it welded together the various departments in one useful effort and its by-products in this respect were particularly good.

Kath Lilford stands
behind Edith Hughes

Kath had had a very heavy cold for some days prior to the Crowning Ceremony, but she managed to keep going alright, and is now quite well again. This effort entailed a tremendous amount of work upon the various groups and I personally feel that they have rendered very fine service to the Association in bringing the competition through so successfully.

We have had quite a lot of sickness in the house. Matron has been kept busy with attendance upon 'flu patients. There has been a very serious epidemic of influenza during the past tow months.  Some of the hospitals have had wards filled with nurses who were unable to continue their work because of the 'flu. Miss Bourchier was also away and so was Wally Muston. Muriel Ratcliffe is also down the 'flu just now.

In view of the legislation resulting in a reduction in mortgage interest, we are appealing to our debenture holders to accept a 1 1/2% reduction so that in future the rate of interest payable will be 5 1/2% We are hoping that they will agree to this arrangement. Of course, if any of them object to it we must keep our contract with them and pay 7%.

With all the interest centred in the Queen Carnival, we had a pretty lean month in finances in September, consequently we went back about £350. Our deficit to the end of September is £2419. This is a very serious position to be in, and we are having special meetings of the Finance Committee to see whether we can effect still further economies. This business is getting on our nerves a bit, and we are all feeling a bit frayed by the continual worry over finances. Despite all that we have done to promote additional business, we have had very little result from the extra promotion.

I have had several letters from America during the last few days, and also from England. In a letter I received from John Pontius, he spoke of meeting you at Cleveland. I am quoting from his letter -- "It is my sincere hope that we may be afforded the pleasure of having him at our home at intervals while he is in America. I extended an invitation to him to consider our home his American home during  his sojourn here; and I sincerely hope he will accept that at its face value. When he wants to get away from student environment into real home atmosphere, Mrs. Pontius and I shall be very glad indeed to have him feel free to visit us. I say that we told him this. Lest he be hesitant about accepting it I wish that you would write him and confirm the literal intent as well as the spirit of our invitation." Pontius also said that they had a visit from Alec. Moodie.

Fred. J. Smith of Toronto wrote -- " It was certainly great to meet your fine son during the Toronto Convention. I went out of town during the latter days of the Conference, and when I returned Noel had gone, and I have not been in touch with him since, but hope I will have the opportunity of meeting him again soon.

Ralph Cole has written me a second letter in which he referred to the pleasure it gave him to have you in their party en route to the conference.

F.J. Chamberlain, National Secretary of Great Britain, also referred to his meeting with you and so did David Gunn, the General Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. at Doncaster, England.

The National Convention is booked for November 21 to 23 at Melbourne. We are expecting reasonably good delegation from the other Associations, especially from the Victorian centres. I must confess I wonder just what we are going to do in the way of legislation at this convention, although in some senses it is necessary that we should meet to discuss future policy, especially in relation to national work. Mr. Trainor who was to have finished up with the National Committee on the 30th September, is continuing until after the Convention. Mr. Woodcraft is still in New Zealand, but I do not think he is having much success in his financial solicitation.

Messrs. Crosby, Jenner, Hooke, McKean, Nichol, Forster, etc. are all keeping well.

Ivor Burge is to be married on the 7th November, to Miss Eileen Laurie. Messrs. Jutsum, Gollan, Gray, Way, Hines and other others on the staff are all keeping well. We have to answer a large number of enquiries from the members, residents, etc. as to how you are getting along.

The kiddies at home are well. Both of them are greatly excited over the Guild Display which is to be held on October 29th, and next Friday the competition for medals will be held. Both of them are hoping to be successful, although I do not think that Joy can expect to win the medal this year, as it was her first year in the senior section.

Rex. has been away for over a week installing talkie apparatus in one of the country towns. Keith is still without a job, although he expects to be with the Texaco Company for 10 days or a fortnight commencing on Monday next.

Mother is keeping well and is, of course, concerned as to how you are getting along. You must give her some particulars regarding how you are faring so as to assuage her concern.

All our attempts to dispose of the Amplifier have so far met with no success. There has been such a tremendous drop in values, that I do not think that we are likely to get anything like £40 for the job or even half of it.

Ruth has practically finished her probation and we expect she will be taking up full responsibilities as a nursing trainee. She seems to be very much in love with her job.

I must finish now. I know you will do your best to give us full news concerning your new work. I sincerely hope you are finding everything  to your satisfaction. I should like to know just what attitude has been taken by the College authorities in relation to your entrance exam.

Be good enough to get Mr. Haughton to send me several copies of the catalogue with the small pamphlets giving other particulars.

With warm love from us all,
Yours affectionately,
Dad.

No. 10 -- 3 Aug 1931

Mr. N. A. Hughes,
C/o Y.M.C.A. College,
5315 Drexel Ave.,
CHICAGO. Ill. U.S.A.

My dear Noel,

We received your letter dated 8th July and posted I presume at Honolulu. Also your diary up to July 6th. As requested we passed this around the staff folk and other friends so that they may know of the happenings on your voyage. Naturally they were pleased to hear of the record of your doings.

We were all sorry to hear that you did not have a daylight trip to Suva, but that could not be helped. Mr. Barker I think I told you in my last letter, wrote to us and gave us some details of your visit to Suva. We hope you had a good time at Honolulu. My visits to Honolulu are very fresh in my memory as I had such a remarkably good time on each occasion.

I am sorry I forget to get the letter for the Rotary Club at Chicago. I will get into touch with Mr. Hartnell, the Secretary here, and endeavour to get a letter for you.

Under separate cover we are sending the two copies of the Annual Report so that you might have one to give away if you feel so disposed. I note that you expect to change your itinerary a little as you cross Canada. You must not forget that the C.P.R. people wrote ahead so as to reserve accommodation for you. If you did not turn up, it may occasion a little kick from the hotel folk with whom reservation was arranged. I think you were wise to extend your time at Winnipeg. I hope you had a good chance to make contact with Archie Kirkpatrick.

Movie poster for the 1927 film "Wings",
a silent film about World War I fighter pilots
and the first winner of the
Academy Award for Best Picture.
(Source: Wikipedia)

We were all glad to hear that  you had made such excellent friends on the ship. I hope these young fellows may be of some help to you in giving you wrinkles on travelling in Canada.

You will by this time have finished up at Toronto and will be turning your face towards Cleveland. I need hardly say that I hope you found the Toronto meetings very helpful. Those at Cleveland should be even more so because of the remarkable collection of young people, as well as seniors you will meet from the different nations. Such an opportunity for personal contacts should mean a great deal to you in the future. By the time this letter reached you conference will have receded into the background and you will be looking forward to your new experiences at Chicago College.

I am hoping that you made contact with a number of my own personal friends at Cleveland. Mr. F.J. Chamberlain, the National Secretary of the British Y.M.C.A., said he would be on the lookout for you as he would be attending the conference. Mr. Harry White, National Council's representative in the Foreign Division at Chicago, also wrote that he would be making contact with you at Cleveland. He had written to you personally, and also to Mr. Fred. Smith at Toronto Central, and Mr. John Geldart. These good friends should have been exceedingly useful to you.

I also had a letter from Mr. Harry Lang, who used to be National Secretary of the Y.M. in Australia, and also from Mr. Sid. Peck, of the San Francisco Y.M.C.A.; both of these men said that they would write to you personally. I hope they did.

Now just a little news of the home folk. We are all keeping very well, apart from colds which most of us have had. Joy and Keith have had very heavy colds which they have not yet been able to throw off. Ruth was home for the weekend from the Homeopathic Hospital. She seems to be enjoying her work there and likes it much better than her job at Danks. I think she will fit into the hospital work and enjoy it. She is having a pretty "lean" time financially. She will not be paid for her first month's work, and then will have to wait until the end of the second month before she draws any pay! In the meantime I have got to keep her going in pocket money. However, that is not a serious matter as her needs are not very great. Keith has not yet struck anything to do. Rex has been doing "off work" and has had three or four jobs since you left. On Saturday he told me that he had a good chance of selling your Amplifier, but of course we have nothing definite to go upon, apart from his statement.

Uncle Will was in over the weekend. He is having a particularly bad time and is making very few sales and consequently is hard up against it.

We have not heard much from the Sydney folk during the past few weeks. Little Edith has taken a great spurt with her piano playing. She has determined to sit for an examination and is now putting in 3/4 hour every morning before breakfast at the piano. I wonder if she will be able to keep it going?

Now a little about the Association. We are still having a pretty difficult time financially and there doesn't seem to be any lift in the depression. Harry Joyce finished up last Friday and we farewelled him at afternoon tea and made him a presentation. There were about 30 present. The Navy work has now to be handled by Reg. Gray, and the Matron, and the  bookings are done at the front office counter. Harry Joyce, as far as I know, has no work to go to, so that he might have quite a bad time during the new few weeks. We have tried in certain directions to get him a job but without success.

Most of the departments are going well. We averaged 75% of occupancy in the Dormitory Dept. over the 6 months instead of our usual 95% to 98%.

The Suburban leaders Corps is going well with over 40 fellows enrolled. I commence a series of six talks tomorrow evening.

The Suburban Auxiliaries Plan proposed by Mr. Crosby has not developed as we had hoped it might, but some money is coming in and if a few of the special functions arranged in the future turn out trumps, we should nett a few hundreds of pounds from these events.

We had a great night here on Saturday last, when the final Basketball Games were played. There were about 200 present.

The Residents have been having some good meetings in connection with their dinner functions and there was a first-class social with the "13" club a week ago. This was quite a good affair and went off excellently.

I told you in my last letter that other reductions in salaries were contemplated. Since then there has been a further cut, and the average works out at about 25% all round. Actually in the last 11 months we have had three cuts and the total reductions in salaries represent over 33%. That of course includes those who have left the Association's employ, such as yourself and others. Despite all this reduction, we cannot make up the loss in revenue we have experienced. I think we shall probably be in the neighborhood of £1900 down on the seven months work.

We are all wondering just how you have been getting along since the conferences, and eagerly await news of your doings. I hope you will keep us fully informed.

The Wireless Club is going well. Last Thursday night they assisted the Vikings in the Picture Show and provided an excellent Amplifier to broadcast the musical part of the programme. They will be able to render very effective service in jobs of this kind. They are meeting regularly twice a week and seem to be an interested group of fellows. At the Picture Show referred to, the Vikings put on the picture "Wings" and had over 200 present.

I must finish off now, as the mail is due to close at 2:30 p.m. I can tell you my boy, that all the folk at home send their love to you. We hope you will keep us regularly informed of your doings.

Pass on my regards to Professor Foss, Dr. Dreaver, and of course Clive and May. Any of my pals whose names I gave you and who are located in Chicago, will be glad to meet you.

Let's hear how you get on as you contact with them.

Affectionately yous,
Dad

No. 6 -- 23 June 1931

Mr. Noel A. Hughes, (of Melbourne, Australia)
C/o Mr. Fred. J. Smith,
Executive Secretary,
Y.M.C.A.
College Street,
TORONTO. Canada

My dear Noel,

Well, I suppose you have had a remarkably interesting journey so far. I know the run through the Canadian Rockies will remain a vivid memories for years to come.

Then your contacts with the beauties of Lake Louise and Banff will also please you.

I hope it was possible for you to meet Mr. Archie Kirkpatrick at Winnipeg. He is a New Zealander who did particularly well at Chicago Y College. He would be delighted to talk over Australian conditions with you.

Fred. Smith, the Executive Secretary oat Toronto Central is one of my old friends of the war days. Fred. and I were very intimate in London. He was heading up the Canadian Y.M.C.A. and I the New Zealand, and we frequently met each other on the business of the Association and in a personal way. I am sure you will find him a warm friend and that he will do all he possibly can to be of assistance to you while you are in his centre.

Another good friend of mine is Mr. Ernie Best; you might ask Fred. Smith where he is and perhaps the opportunity may come for you to meet him also.

If you get the opportunity I would suggest that you visit Toronto University and look over Hart House which was the centre where A. J. Edmonds was Physical Director. This might serve as an introduction for you to get permission to go through  the buildings.

I suppose you will have met the boys from Springfield and also Ern. Saunders. Please convey to them all my warmest regards.

Noel's certificate that he is a delegate to
the 1931 World's Conferences of YMCAs.
(click photo to enlarge or view on Flickr)

Now, I hope you will enter into the Conference with the desire to get out of it the absolute limit in the way of help and inspiration. It will be a wonderful chance to meet many of the great leaders of our Movement from practically all countries of the World. You will be glad to make these contacts as they may mean a great deal to you in the future and I would suggest that you cultivate every opportunity in that direction.

Some of the fellows will be attending the Boys' Work Conference, but I suggest that in view of your desire to take up Secretarial work, that the Younger Men's  problems would probably be of more help to you than the Boys' Conference discussions.

Letter from F.D. Trainor of the
National Committee of YMCAs of Australia
certifying Noel is an official delegate.
(click photo to enlarge or view on Flickr)

Seek out the men who were on the New York Headquarters staff, such men as Arthur N. Cotton, Abel Gregg and C.C. Robinson. Don't forget our old friend, E.M. Robinson, who visited Australia in 1925. He is now on the professorial staff of the Springfield College. It is possible that Professor Hartley Cross (an Australian) also on the Faculty at Springfield, will be present.

When you visit Buffalo, look up A.H. Witford, 45 West Mohawk St., who has retired from association service, but is still regarded as one of the great leaders in our Movement.

Ask Mr. Spaeth of Buffalo Y to make the contact for you. Don't forget to pay your registration fee of 15 dollars promptly on arrival.

By this time you may have received one or two suggestions regarding work in between Cleveland and Chicago. Consult Alec. Moodie and Fred. Smith on any offers you may receive. I have written Fred. Smith asking him to see if anything can be done for you. His advice will be sound.

When you go through to Cleveland, don't forget to make contact with Clarence Deeter, Apartment Secretary of the Central Y building. Give him my greetings. Please do not think that I am full of instructions in my letters, I simply desire to remind you of certain things so that you may benefit by your contacts with men of note in our work. It is so easy, in the rush of a Conference with scores of group meetings in progress, to lose one of the big by-products of the Conference which is found in the fellowship with men who are leaders in our work.

This letter goes with you on the "Niagara" and should be awaiting your arrival at Toronto. Capitalise every opportunity.

With our united love,

Dad.


See related post: The YMCA conferences in Toronto and Cleveland