BRED 'MIDST RIOTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1047, 9 February 1911, Page 2

BRED 'MIDST RIOTS.

GROWT,H ,OF SALVATION ARMYi , A STORY OF STIRRING TIMES. '' CHiT'WITH COLONEL BIRKEN. SHiW. ' I Thirty tiro j ears' service in the Salvation Army is tho record „of Lieutenant Colonel Birkcnshaw, who has been.' appointed to succeed Lieutenant-Colonel N Knight as olficer-in command of \rmy operations in' the■JJbrth Island.'!a Colonel- , Birken«haw arrived m Wellington yesterday, by tho Wnrrimoo.fahd was welcomed, at the wharf by Major Johnson (pronncinl secretary), Brigadier Glover, and ~ other Army officer l : He will be officially*"' welcomed at the Vivian Street Citadel this evening Days of Persecution'. , , Interviewed by a Domvion reporter, Colonel Birkenshaw stated that he joined tho Army in his native town of Sheffield," England, thirty two years ago. Then in ~ tho early days of its existence, the Army r was subjected to severe persecution "It - was despised to t great extent," said the ' Colonel, "and our meetings were c'ontinuallj disturbed by noting and violence in the streets" of Sheffield Officers nere frequently knocked about Lieutenant ' Davidson, uho had been in'his day a champion Northumberland wrestler, was ' knocked from horseback with a billet of wood, and on another occasion all tho "" brasg instrument* of the Army Band, in, Sheffield, were smashed by a noting c J ow d It nas amid such scenes ns these that Colonel Birkenshaw gained his first"; experience of Army work After sceudmg t<vo years m Sheffield, under" the stionuous. conditions indicated, Mr. Birkenshaw went to London, where he r spent t«o years in the Arraj Training ' ' College, and helped at many of the earlyday establishments, among" them that of Bethnal Green. / "Opening Up" Scotland. \ Everywhere in these earlv days the Armj was violent'} assailed bv roughs at its meetings in the streets and indoors, and joung Birkenshaw found no change in * ' this respect when he proceeded from London to Scotland "Opening up" are the cxpressno words in which ho des- • cribea the work of the Arm} officers in Scotland in the earh eighties In Edin. l burgh, Glasgow, and Govan he encountered a continuation of riots and distrrbed meetings A couple of jears ardurus work told tneir tale, however, and at the end of that time those who earned on tho woik af the Army in Scotland began to find the tide turning in their favour ' Conversions became numerous and rioting at the Army meetings diminished. , i - _ e , In Sunderland and in Hull to which towns Mr Birkenshaw next turned his attention, the labours of Army, workers had begun to produce visible effects about the year 1882 Great "revuals" were ex- ' penenccd m both towns and at Hull a band of 40 performers was formed:with- -~ a sergeant of police as bandmaster In ' the same tonn 3000 converts were made m a period of ten months and the fact is chiracteristic of the progress that was ' being made at the time. A Tavern Transformation, v Mr Birkenshaw returned to London soon afterwards—he is not certain as to the exact date—and took part in a new lenture that was initiated by the Army. In the City Road near a thoroughfare known as Shepherdesses' Walk there was a building known as 'the Eagle" Tavern. It wa« a notorious haunt of ne'er do-wel's r ' and bad characters generally and the sur-' rounding district was overrun with-vice - s and crime Thousands of. thieves lived * within a five mile radius of the' place, not to speak of criminals of deeper dyei Colonel Birkenshaw quoted an old'jingle " that had a vogue in the early days. - i|Af "n * mj i"-'iiui Jii-»-< * Up and down the City Road, In and out tho Eagle, <. That's tho way the money goes, Pop goes tho weasel! _. - K K Attached to the? EaghTwas ,"-•' most notorious theatres in England The Army acquired an eighteen years' lease* of the iroperty and transformed it into " a citadel Captain Jl'Kie (afterwards Salvation Ann} Commander in Australasia and now directing Army operations in Sweden) and Captain Birkenshaw, as i he then was, were given joint command- 1 _ of the new station in City Road \ In this place the Army had to encounter v ~ not only the 'immediate hostility of a por- s tion of the populace, but organised opposition as well * " „" ".' '"If — ' "A Skeleton 'Army." *■ >\ '' The publicans of the district raised '*' I nhat was knowi as a "skeleton army." It consisted'of about 3000 hooligans, who made,it their business, in consideration., of freo drinks, to disturb "and harass the Army meetings and street marches in , every possible way.. Violent scenes lof noting occurred, but the Army, undeter- ' red, continued its work among the poor, and b) degrees nou their sympithj Ultimately thousands of converts were made and. two meeting.. halls'were constantly crowded with people. In 1884 Mr Birkenshaw left' England for Australia, whero he took up corps work at Bendigo ,and Ballarat. Hero, as I at Home, the Army had 'a stormy, career, and ,n the towns named, and .later m , North Melbourne, Mr. Birkenshaw. found his experiences with rioters in tho "hard places of England, stand him in good stead Eventually, as elsewhere, the Army triumphed over its early difficulties v Great*revivals wera experienced invmany \ > places, and, in the colonel's words, "the , , > . work has been going on prosperopsly I ever since." In Australasia. "/ ,"'" ' s~ After spending some time in New South Wales, Sir Birkenshaw revisited London t to attend a conference held at the Crystal Palace in 18S6 Returning to Austra- r lasia, he took charge of tho work in the South Island of New Zealand, and later , in the North Island, sc that he is now resuming a former charge. On leaung New Zealand he spent some time in Syd- , ney, and later in South Australia, ultimately assuming control of Army operations in Victona For seven years he has' " ~ been principal of the Army Training College at Melbourne His term was broken V. by a visit to Europe, during which he studied training'methods in London and on tho Continent in Germany, Trance, ■- and Switzerland Returning to Melbourne ' five years ngo, Colpnol Birkenshaw apShod the information he had gleaned > unng his travel* in remodelling the curriculum at tho Melbourne Training; College In addition to his dutcs as pnnI cipal of this institution, Colonel Birkcul shaw was in charge of the Army Central Citadel in Bourke Street, Mclbonrne ' 5 ' "And nowhere I. am,"i'" L concluded. the' colonel cheerily. ,^ ' / - ,'