New Britain herald., 1917-04-25
Y. M. [. A. WORK IN
 INDIA WITH SOLDIERS
E. J. Simonds Sends February
 Report to Secretary Barnes

E. J. Simonds, general secretary of Y. M. c. A. work at Poona, India, who
 is supported by the local Y. M. c. A.
 has just sent his February report to
 General Secretary c. H. Barnes of the
 local association. New work has been
 started at Kirkee and nearly all of
 MT. Simonds' time has been spent
 there in putting up the tents and ar-
 ranging the camps. Up to the present
 time the men have had only their
 knees to write their letters on and
 when the writing tables at the new camp were put in position they were nearly swamped. Moving picture shows and concerts will have to be held out of doors at the camp and already g. piano and phonograph have been purchased. According to a let ter MT. Simonds has written. the na- tional council of Iidia is spending about $300.OO0 on the worl9 this year in addition to what is coming from America and England. The February report follows:
 The outstanding new feature of the month at the army branch has been the Thursday night socials con ducted by the ladies from the various churches and organizations of PoonaL. The building has been crowded three out of the four social evenings. Re- treatments have added much. The ladies have furnished the cakes and wafers and the Y. M. c. A.<has served coffee. Various indoor games have been staged each night. These socials are the only time many of the sol- diers meet any of the ladies and they appreciate this variation very much. The hall was also crowded to the limit for two concerts.
 "A lantern lecture on India was Nan- other feature and was given by Ser geant J. M. O'Brien, who used slides made from pictures taken by himself. A concert by the children of many of the leading India Rajahs drew a big crowd. These little Rajahs are in St.. Helena's school and very clearly. set forth the possibilities in India's of practical value were those given by Professor Knight of the Agricultural college and Professor Brown of the college. Professor Knight told of western India's pro- gress in agriculture and demonstrated his lecture with the blows. drills and various implements used, also by an exhibit of many of the farm products, Professor Browns lecture was also illustrated. His subject was the "Tata water scheme for irrigation and power.'
 'The mission study, Bible and Hin iustanf classes have continued during the month as usual. The Sunday ,vening devotional meeting seems to 1 i'll the need for fair group each ] week.
 The New Army Branch.
 GA new branch was opened Febru- ,ry 27 for the men now in camp at 1 he combined infantry depot, Kirkee, 1 Our E. P. tents have been erected | md are already overcrowded before 1 nore than one-fourth of the men have 1 lrrived. He need more room, piano l and phonograph at once. The general l secretary has been in charge until MT. l Benjamin from Mesapotamia arrives.
 Indian City Branch.
 "A new secretary. Paul Rangana- l tum, a graduate of the Chicago Y. M. l c. A. college. has arrived and taken l hold of the task of developing the 1 S0TVlCc WoA n HI A oOAie~' { AhA. | has had ample experi- l ence and training and is very enthus- 1 iastic and we are looking forward to l this feature with great expectation.
 "A hotel or home for men run by the Y. M. c. A. was opened February i 20. On March all of the five rooms l were filled. This will be a demonstra- l ton center for better housing con- l ditions It is planned that the hotel l shall be self sustaining after the l equipment is provided.
 An offer of rupees 1000 or $2.26s has come to the city branch this l conditioned on our securing l rupees 1S,00O or $5,460 more. This | would build the first modern associa- l ton building in Poona. Let us pray that the rest of this money may soon l come. Only 90,o00 rupees or $29, ,160 l in addition to the above would build | a fine building.
 Student Work.
 IA new practical program discus 1 sion group among the boys at the En- | gineering college was organized. They l meet at 10 o'clock Sunday. This | makes groups in the agriculture, l medical and engineering colleges.
 ''U. F. Blanchard, one of the Bom- l bay secretaries, gave two lectures, {