This Day in History:

July 23, 1886: Horticultural show should be big success. Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.

The Daily Colonist Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The show under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association promises to be an unqualified success.

This boon will fill a long-felt want and does credit to the enterprise and public spirit of the institution with whom the idea originated.

We would strongly urge upon the people of this city and province to take hold of the exhibition and carry it to a successful issue.

The surest way to accomplish this object is to make an abundant show of plants, etc., which our gardeners and public-spirited men can do. The association promises to make the exhibition a permanent institution.

Any profit that may be made out of the show will be devoted to furnishing the new rooms of the association and making them neat and attractive to the young men of our city.

As we have before stated, any young man of good moral character, irrespective of religious belief, may partake of the privileges of the association, which consists of free reading room, writing materials, use of parlor, library (500 vols.), boarding house register, employment bureau, use of baths, gymnasium, chess club, debating society (parliamentary rules), C. L. and S. circle, lecture course, practical talks, members' socials and reunions.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008