SALVATION ARMY.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20169, 23 February 1931, Page 9

SALVATION ARMY.

. —o —, WORK FOR THIS POOR IN LONDON. ADDRESS BY AN OFFICER., "London, with its smoke and its } f(>g, j grips the visitor immediately. I don't , know just what .the fascination is, but 1 it is very real," said Staff-Captain. • Emma Davies, speaking on ''Seven Years in the London Slums" to a large audience in the Salvation Army Citadel . yesterday afternoon. Captain Davies returned to New Zealand recently after five and a half years spent in Canada. Prior, to that she was engaged in slum work in London. Touching on some of the quaint customs which have been'in existence in. , London for many years, Captain Davies remarked that at one church hundreds of oranges, were given away to children once a year. At' another church. 1 through the' will of some dead and gone benefactor,. twelve widows were, each year, given 6d and a loaf of bread. The custom had been going on for centuries and would continue as long as London lasted. "Socialism Fails."' "The Royal Family are most gracious, and whenever I saw them I felt proud to be a Briton and working under the Union Jack," Baid the captain. "Queen Mary often visits the settlement houses of the poor.. Some of the people keep their premises like palaces; others keep the coal in the bathl You may talk about Socialism and everybody being equal, but it, does not seem to work.- I think some of. the fascination of London lies in Father Tttames. "In Poplar," Shore ditch, and _ Limehouse, millions of people live in congested area's. You will realise the immensity of the population when I tell you that it is as large as that of Canada. The 'housing problem is' a great one. - . The upper classes, in some j cases a hundred let their big houses : and' -moved' out to the suburbs. | Very little repairs have been carried I j out, and two or three families live, in 1 each storey. ■ "Although ' they exist in. this, state, the people love-their London. They are keen admires- of flowers.- Indeed, in some quarters of-the East End there are blazes of colour" from the window boxes." i-"' >' 1 The Personal Touch. ' ,The Salvation, Army'.maternity hospital in London* was the second best ia the city, said the speaker, - It was "o£ ,the latest bungalow type, was>,«peoed by Princess Louise, and w§« frequently--visited, by'tho. Queen. t - Referring to th,e sid.e of her

times anu had come-to live m fcondoi*. She visited them- and found "rthenLjui a sad state. With a colleague *eho beatdea, a London bus, 1 armed with pailß/uoap, and scrubbing brushes, and tharoughly, cleaned the rooms. One old lady masked if'Bhe could have ler hair cat off.- She had not washed it for two "years! Oft going.thro-gh J the house "they found, a number pf cardboard boxes fuljL, of silk clothes and a fur coat. They had .been sent out from Ireland, but thfe - old ladies' pride, was so great - that* .th; / would not wear the -gamentߣ;.uer£he* would they inform their people "of thei* condition. The Army £ook-'charge jof, the clothes, drove .a hard with; a': pawnbroker,; ana* handed -the- woney ■ over »toi^hpj l women.%%a^e/ 1 ?eeiveda ; «malUega«7 *^j^9fs#i <.were,-';," feomfOrtl,:. '>dr P^^^p^m'k