SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1217, 28 August 1911, Page 6

SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK.

"Tvo seen i3OO men at tho Sunday aorning's meeting at Bermondsey, every )ne of whom had been picked up in tho last stages of destitution, in the .dead of nigh t, either on . the Embankment: or sheltering in a doorway or an arch. The New . Zealander : cannot imagine such a sight. Social work must be managed_ in a sound commercial way—there is no time for sentiment with the Army. Consideration—yes, but not sentiment. The thing given is never appreciated like that which is earned. The only free meal given in London is on Sunday morning, and all we insist npon is those who partake shall attend the morning's meeting." So spoke Brigadier Bray, who not long ago returned from the big S.A. Congress held in London.

"That does not mean that we turn anyone away—anjone that 13 genuinely in want, tut we make them earn it, and earn a bit of sslf-respect and a shilling or so for themselves. Wo have officers as sharp as needles to detect the - absolute waster. He is let slide—an impossibility —but if there is any man with a trace of the man left in him, and who. might have been knockfd out by drink or ■trouble, we will help him to regain his feet—morally and physically. If a man is willing to work, all right. Ho is sent up to the. Sparr Eoacl Elevator, where the Army sorts oat the odds and ends gathered from the shops, factories, 'houses, and work-places of London. Ho is given a litle hand-cart, nicely painted and not too heavy to push, and' is told' to go collecting' in a certain street or block. On his return his 'produco' is tipped out on to a big table, and in a few seconds expert pickers have sorted out th 9 stuff into half a dozen grades. Theso are weighed in scales before the man, and he is credited in his own book, and a cross entry is made in the factory book, with the value of his collections at so much per pound; then away 110 goes again to look for more. If he is a decent sort of chap he soons picks himself up, and is taken notice of, and probably olTSred a billet. He repsrts having received a billet, is wished all the luck in the world, and off he goes to start life afresh. Then the shelter is rung up for another mau, and so on throughout the year. All London is marked off into blocks for collecting, but nf/ overlapping is allowed. The system is carried out from the Sparr Eoad Elevator, ami is as near perfection in its working as one could wish."