SALVATION ARMY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2439, 19 April 1915, Page 7

SALVATION ARMY

DEMONSTRATION IN THE CITY

ANNUAL CONGRESS GATHERS

On Saturday afternoon some 500 offio&rs and soldiers of the Salvation Army Wet at Thonidon railway station to welcome contingents of Salvationists from the north. As the various corps alighted from the train they were heartMy welcomed by Commissioner Hodder 'arid the Chief Secretary (Lieut.-Colonol iPdtvley), who were accompanied by Mrs |Hodder and Mrs. Powfoy. _ Ringing ''cheers were raised as tho various units 'took up their respective positions outside the station, where a procession was formed, headed by a, bodyguard carrying aloft .the Army flags of the various •nations in which the organisation is at work. The Belgian _ flag aroused > good "deal" of interest. The ' Commissioner and Mrs. Hodder and the 'Chief Secretary and Mrs. Powley, accompanied by officers from territorial quarters," followed" immediately in "the . rear of the banner-bearers, and were succeeded by several hundred officers and soldiers, with Wellington City, Sydenham, South Wellington,. Feilding, Brad- Wanganui Bands. In the evening a "musical festival" wae held in the Town Hall, at which Commissioner Hodder presided. All ■the (headquarters staff were present, and also the delegates to the National Congress. The body of the hall was well filled.' The bands taking part were those from Eetone, Feilding, South Wellington, Sydenham, Wanganui, and_ Wellington City, all of which contributed The. boys from the Elthara School, who are not quite strangers to (Wellington, gave very creditable exhibitions of physical drill- Other contributors to a very long programme were MfS. Captain Suter (song), Bandmaster and. Mrs. Goffin (monologue), Captain Hawkins (6oiig), the Wellington City Songsters, ana thci Wellington Male yoke" Party. •'

, AN UPLIFTING SERVICE. \ ON THE BASIN RESERVE. was a day of glorious uplift Jor the Salvation Army.' , It was Congress Sunday, and the weather was simply perfect from sunrise to sunset. ■The day was marked by an open-air evangelical service held in the Basin Reserve, and the five participating bands from all of the Dominion marched from different parts of the city attracting crowds to the reserve hy tho spirit which animated their playing. Among the five bands, that of the Wellington City, very neatly uniformed, and equip-, ped with silver-plated instruments, struck many as a particularly fine body of instrumentalists, and the absence of blatanoy in the tone, and the soft effects produced by the use of the French horn and saxaphone, gave it a distinct character. The Waaganui and Sydenham Bands also played remarkably well. .When the service on the Basin Reserve ■'started there' must have been about ,;4000 people present, and right through '•the proceedings their attitude was i markedly reverent, and combined with .an alert interest in whatever was going 'forward. The gathering was held under .the presidency of Commissioner H. C. 'Hodder, who gave a warm welcome to everyone present in the heartiest pos,sible maimer. The .service opened with a hand selection, "Victory for Me," playby the massed bands (one hundred ■performers), under the baton of Bandmaster Walker, of the Wellington South SBand. The effect of hearing such a congregation of l>ands playing the one tune was most inspiritingj and as tho air was very still, the sound of this fine hymn must have been heard at some 'considerable distance. A peculiarly uplifting feeling was experienced, too, ■.when' the bands played the Russian Naitional Anthem. . The grandeur and ■digiiity of this great hymn, swelled out over the sward, and it was plainly ■heard by people sitting on the sunlit - hillsides in the distailce. * After the band had played the air, it was taken up Jjv the voices: '

'■"God the Omnipotent, Mighty Avenger, Watching invisible, judging' uriEeard; Doom us not now in the hour of out danger, Give us peace in our time, 0 Lord 1" [ill heads were bared, and all hearts responded in silence to the prayer embodied in, the translation of the first verse'of the anthem. Staff-Captain Gunn, a gifted speaker, offered up prayer, and Staff-Captain Gray, of Christ church, delivered a brief address, on the . pressing need for help to all those who are leading or on the verge of leading a sinful life, and. need but a touch to direct them to God's way. Short ■addresses were also delivered by Major Newby, Adjutant Macaulay, and Brigadier .Bray; the last-named officer, who leads the, social work brigade in these parts, is a vigorous, 'hard-hitting speaker, -whose sincerity is the most aggressive feature of the man. He quoted a battlefield instance to introduce a'parabla of a young man who had nearly half his face bl6wn away in action during the Crimean war. AIL he could do was to groan, "Mother, mother, mother 1" The moans were heard by the Lady of the Lamp, who paused and took the poor battered head in her arms as if its owner was a baby, and, as the poor fellow died, he said,. "I knew you would come!" That lady was Florence Nightingale. The same- good'work was being carried on now by the Salvation. Army on the battlefields of Europe, and would go on until this dreadful struggle was ended, and the Kingdom of God* extended throughout" the entire world. But there were bloodless battles, to fight, the battles against sordid misery, social degradation and sin', and there, too, the good fight was being fought, and he invited all present who could not go to "the front to join the Army and help with .the battles to be fought in their own country.

The Wellington City Band played a selection entitled '.'Echoes of the Congress," under Bandmaster Goffin, and ■selections were also played by the >Wanganui Band (Bandmaster Wilson), tho Feildmg Band (Bandmaster Johnson), and the Sydenham Band (Bandmaster Meadows), and the Wellington Songsters contributed a vocal item.

• During the service Chief Secretary Colonel Powley mentioned that there •would be a grand united children's demonstration in the Town Hall this evening, and on Thursday next the congress would conclude with a series of services to be held in the Vivian Street Citadel, entitled "A Day With God." . EVENING SERVICE. La6t evening the . Salvation Army .bccupied the Grand Opora House, which was packed in every division. During the time between tho opening of tho doors and the commencement of the service tho Sydenham and the Wellington City Bands played a number of Commissioner Hodder conducted the services, and was assisted, as speakers, by Mrs. Commissioner Hodtier and Mrs. Brigadier Glover. Tho chief address was delivered by tho Commissioner himself, who spoke forcibly t>n the text: "He was wounded for our transgressions" (from Isaiah). Colonel Powley offered up prayer, incidentally supplicating Divine aid for the success of the Allies, succour for all those ■wounded and otherwise, distressed by the war. The Wellington Songsters sang a number, and massed bands once more played with fine impressiveness tho Russian National Hymn, Ftodi an early hour yesterday morning the streets of the city were alive with the Army's skirmishing parties, and the service held at II a.m. found the Vivian Street Citadel all too small for those who wished to be present.