GENERAL BOOTH.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16858, 11 June 1920, Page 6

GENERAL BOOTH.

.—6 ARRIVAL IN CHRIST CHURCH. General Hramwell Booth, head of the Salvation Army, arrived in Cnristchurch yesterday morning, accompanied by his staff. He was welcomed at the railway station bv a largo number of officers of the Army, though the informal reception which had been arranged was abandoned, owing to the lato arrival of the boat from W ellingtun. General Booth will leave for Dunedin to-morrow, afterwards returning to Christchurch, and proceeding to Wellington and Auckland. Ho will leave New Zealand on June 2Sth, and, after spending some six weeks in England, will set off on an extended tour of America :uul Canada.

WORK OF THE ARMY,

UPLIFTING THE HEATHEN.

An interesting interview, chiefly concerning the woTk of the Salvation Aimy was given to a "Press" representative yesterday afternoon by General ]>ooth. •'This is my first visit to Now Zealand." ho commenced. "I am almost ashamed to say that, at tho advanced age of G3 years, I have not been here before, but my personal work has been moro or less confined to tho neighbourhood of London. I should have been hero earlv in 1915, but the war upset m ,- plans'" Continuing, General Booth said that, looking round at the work of tho Salvation Army, he had been very pleased with a great, deal of what- lie had seen in Australia. In New Zealand conditions were somewhat different, but ho thought tho Army was going, for- , ward hero also. His visit was intended partly to examine the possibilities of new effort for the good of tho people, and partly in the hope of increasing interest within the Salvation Army's own oircics in the work in the countries of the ISast. Tho future of tho Army, continued General Booth, was. in his opinion, assured, and lie could sny so for two reasons. Firstly, there was a need for Army. No movement, however great, could make any impression rther-wi-e. Recond'y. its interest and vitality justified his saying that it was now "of tho soil of every country." At present there were various signs of development which were, to him, very significant. During the prist eight or ten years, for esunple. ho had been greatly encouraged by the in'Tcnsing in the work amongst the heathen, an interest which was not merely intellectual, but entirely practical in producing more ind more men and women who were ready to lay down thoir lives in the work. There had been the recent frightful world upheaval, yet the Army was rejoicing in the larger numbers of : its people who were not only offering to go, but were going to those dark lands. Such enthusiasm was, to the General, a. very important factor in tho development of tho Army's work—that it was saved from one peril that menaced so many movements, tho settlingdown to self-satisfaction and ease. He felt that it was something approaching a scandal that, after 2000 years of Christianity, the great communities of Christian people, a number of whom : owned a large part of tho wealth of tho western world, had done so little for the non-Christian nations. There wore a thousand million of non-Christ-ians, and Christianity had scarcely made a ripnle on the vnst ocean of misery and ' darkness which that figure represented. He hoped to find in New Zealand men and women ready to further tho C hristianising of the people of the East. Every class of worker was needed. Education, tho Gcnoral interpolated, was becoming somewhat of a fetish today. It was overdone, because it was so onesided, being all directed towards the intellectunl, instead of partly' towards the training of character and the instruction of the soul. There was, to his mind, not tho slightest doubt that Germany owed her downfall to that reason. For the past quarter of a centuiy of his experience, her education had been purely towards the material and the intellectual, to the exclusion of tho spiritual, and, in a curious way, of tho philosophical. In fac£, her education had resulted in man, without Gcd. "I'm an optimist, and I'm full of hope for the world," General Booth proceeded. "I am sure things are going to be better. I am sorry, hotfever, that organised religion is not making very great progress. I am afraid that' it has, in some directions, been weakened by the war, but still a grant many people have been seised with the sense of "tightness," and the experience of the Salvation Anny justifies that view." The Salvation Army, he went on, was truly international. It was for tho whole world, not only the Salvation Army world. He very emphatically stated that the mnin object of the Army was not charitable or philanthropic. The spiritual work was at the bottom of everything it did. The social work, as a matter of fact, did not have its birth until 1890. ■General Booth gave an interesting suivey of some of tho directions in which the Army was opening ut> newwork, with particular reference to the East. Since the' armistice, he said, entreaties to start the work of the Army had been received from Serbia, Bulgaria, and Roumania, and from one of the leading European Embassies in Austria, to start in Vienna.. During the war the Army had started operations in China, Russia, and Burma, and elsewhere. _ "Christianity hot," he' said, "Christianity, with its head screwed on right; Christianity in its essential demand on men for service, as well as Christianity with its power of safety. That's what we need. Tho last time <

I spoke to the King he said, with ono fist pounding his other other palm, 'The only hope for maintaining our civilisation is in strengthening our Christianity.' I'm sure ne was right." Concerning the influence of the war on the Salvation Army, General Booth said that although ghastly losses in England and Germany, in France, Belgium, and Italy, had to bo mourned nevertheless the war had greatly helped the movement as a whole, and had advanced the Salvation Army in the good understanding of enormous numbers of people, and for the next 50 years ho was sure the Army would reap the benefit of the splendid work of its people amongst the troops. "As to the League of Nations," the General went on. "I want it. I don't say that I am absolutely satisfied that it can be done, but I do Bay that we have tried everything else. Let us give it a fair trial, and if it docs not, itself, succeed, it may lead to something whicli will."

FIRST PUBLIC MEETING. AN ENTHUSIASTIC GATHERING. The Salvation Array Citadel was completely filled last night, when General Booth held the first public meeting of his Now Zealand tour. Commissioner Ilodder, head of'the Salvation Army in "New Zealand, briefly extended a hearty welcome to the General, and introduced him to the gathering, who received him with enthusiasm. Commissioner John Lawley, who travels with the General as a member of his personal staff, and who accompanied the late General William Booth on his last tour of NewZealand, assisted in the service. After a prayer by Commissioner Lawley. a psalm, which was accompanied by tho l>;ind, and a solo by the General's son, Adjutant Bernard Booth, tho General gave a brief address on tho great progress of the Salvation Army throughout the world, and reiterated the statements he made earlier in tho day concerning the need for large num-

bcrs 01 men and women helpers for work amongst tho un-Christianisod peoples, expressing a hope that ho would obtnin volunteers for such work during his present tour. ° Later, General Booth gave an inspiring evangelistic address. " He is not an evangelist, of the louder, outwardly impressive type, but a quiet, though telling, sneaker, with a gift of thoroughly analysing the words of the Biblf>, ami bringing home their true meaning to his lie.uvrs. His seriousness is nicely tempered -with quiet humour, and lie" has n host 01 true stories —his own experiences—to illustrate his point. He. preached from 110 text: in fact, his address could hardly be termed preaching at all, hut a thoroughly Christian treatise on, and analysis of, a few verses of the second chapter of the First l'.pistle of St John, which ho read, explaining. as he proceeded, to the meeting. At the conclusion of his address he made an appeal for converts to Christ, and several went up to the front lind confessed their faith. Public meetings will bo held in the Citadel this morning, this afternoon, and this evening.