BUSY DAYS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20180, 7 March 1931, Page 16

BUSY DAYS.

WORK OP SALVATION ARMY. CARING FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE. (Contributed.) •j hays dealt withithe whole of tlj» food-supply■>for Napier, to,have successfully dealt with hundreds* of" ©n- . .quiries, for, friends and loved onee, to , have beoq .instrumental in organising cpttoertfl/ among • the thousand ,odd campers' at' Nelson Park, 1 and to have .icted in.the capacity of adviser,. postal afficial, or general' information bureau is no small ; feat.. It necessitates patience, tact, enterprise, foresight, and long hours of continuous, toil. Yet Salvation-Army officers of - Hastings and Napier and from elsewhere have played ■'these s several Toles and many, more—tend they have played them well.. * No sooner had the actual earthquake subsided than the local corps officer in Napier, realising that a catastrophe of . appalling magnitude had occurred, inuneai&tely set about working out a scheme of relief for those -.wljose needs : were' so : great. l Whilst he was endeavouring to restore confidence among his' people and their dependent, a party of Salvationists recruited from the National; Headquarters were mnking their way Napieiwaras : with all dpeed. The faot that news of the disaster was received in Wellington .at ■* o'clock in -the afternoon, and that .the party were on their! way an hour afterwards, speaks l volumes for the evident desire of all to reach the scene as soon as possible. . ■ Signs were not wanting along the road that the disaster was every bit as bad as had been reported; but the 1 dull red'glare on the horizon, and the pale'faces of refugees travelling in the opposite direction, served only to make all r the more tho necessity for. reaching - the • stricken cities with all possible haste. .• A plan of campaign worked out during thq ijourney .from. Wellington, brought the first of the party to the Army's Bethany Maternity Hospital on the- Bluff Hill. •It was imperative that the children > and their mothers should be removed to Wellington Maternity, Hospital .as. expeditiously, as could .be arranged. Accordingly a' bus was chartered and the' oocupants of the institution sent on their long journey: to safety and comfort. . ' . .Pood Supplies. i i ' BUt. the ' work % of the, rescuers, only commenced -with this act. ' With tho breaking 'of. day thOy were right on tftO spot, and when tjie decision came that the Army was to control the food distribution for the City ihe work was proceeded- with at once. 1 Undo* capable supervision depots were organised' at convenient points in the City and. suburbs, and the actual distribution commenced. The response to the appeal for food of', all aort* was nothing >phort' of . marvellous From, north, south, east, and waste, -fopdstuiffl , icame, in, ana ' the, pi^choiS^alTWefet l of thi>' oVen;" on the ,' workers can'be-well imaginoq.. Nonunion They

? J 1 4 ; >WiT quoting- from/ these"we, aro- able to pre»etft : ths following:—' ' , t j . ;"X wifth toeo»Vey to you my. deepest for tJiie- trouble that you have 'taken ojt my believe me I am, most thankful for the Information itirmtfod ' peeping „ -my friends. Wixen ( l."see are safe and well it w"a gjrekt comfort to .me." ■ \ '"fit ia,,& great,relief to know .that rniy loyedj ones. ar'e'iSafO' and that we 1 hro-vow the ofcommunicating 1 Yottjftre iiideea. a , troidesfal work among ' t -tiiriaW"people '.wh«| are, fcomeleaa' ana m iftrflcitfg- tboaeTwlw l?een scattered ' jwjk® of the * s , mmugmmmss