UPLIFTING WORK SALVATION ARMY IN INDIA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1913, Page 3

UPLIFTING WORK SALVATION ARMY IN INDIA

FIGHTING MALARIA WITH EUCALYPTUS TREES. j ADJUTANT CARTER. INTERVIEWED (By D. W.) It is indeed a far cry from water-girt New Zealand in tlie Pacific to the great j Indian Empire. Adjutant and Mrs. Carter, of the Indian Salvation Army Corps, who arrived on Wednesday in Wellington ou furlough, and who belong to that heroic band of men and women who have left homo and country to chase away dafk clouds fiom human hearts and faces, had very much that was interesting to tell of the work .of the Army in India. Adjutant Carter— or, Adjutant Singh, as he is known by his friends in Inaia-p-has been stationed there for the past nine years, and is in charge of the Training College for Natives at Guzierafc, in the Bombay Presidency, where, during May and June (the hottest months of the year), the heat is such that between the hours of 9 a.m. and $ p.m. work is impossible. All doors and windows are locked, rooms are hung with Wet sheets, and verandahs with thick grass mats. At the Guzierat Training College educational as well as evangelistic" work is carried on, for ah Army office* must not only qualify as a teacher, but as a doctor, a nurse, and & dentist as well. N6 officer travels without a set of dental forceps/ a medicine chest, and knives* for opening wounds. Adjutant Carter remembers ence extracting fifty teeth in two days. From far ana near the people bring their sick in the slow bullock carts to the Army hospitals. It is recorded that one nurse, unaided, cured over fifty cases of plague in the surrounding villages. ) GREAT SOCIAL WORKS. Trades are also taught in the school. At Guzierat there 'is a pateit hand* weaving loom, an invention by an Army officer — a loom which has taken most of the first prizes and medals for the last seven years. This loom is recognised as the best loom in India, and is used extensively by the Indian Government. The students are also taught to weave j the beautiful Indian carpets, and to weave cloth and silk. The is; anxious to revive the silk industry-— the trade in which China and Japan have almost monopolised— and "to this end the Salvation Army has endeavoured_ to as* sist the Government by establishing the industry in the criminal settlements and ■the boys' orphanages. It is now in a nourishing condition, and . begins from the cultivation of the silkworm to the article ready for the market. In addition to the educational and industrial work and the emancipation of dark and broken humanity, another most interesting, and surprising, work is carded on by the Army. This work is conducted in collaboration with the Indian Government. It is the establishment of nurseries, nurseries of eucalyptus gum trees, Australian gum trees in the Far East. Many more people die in India of malaria than of the dreaded plague, and where the pungent healthgiving eucalyptus tree waves its branches malaria of the most evil reputation is put out of action, in fact, is practically non-existent. Hence' the planting of eucalyptus trees. The seed is exported from Australia, and though in the first stages the young plants are somewhat hard to rear, after a certain period they grow sturdily and take kindly to the alien soil, Every native teacher is supplied with young trees free of cost, and he is encouraged to plant them' in the villages as malarial fighters. Some-, times ns much as eight/pence (a large, sum to most in India) is given for a young eucalyptus. So far the experiment has been most successful. Not only is the native teacher encouraged to plant these health-giving trees, but the late Queen Victoria's Birthday has been set aside each year* as an Arbor Day by Commissioner Booth-Tucker (officer-in-eharge of the Salvation Army -work in India), and on that day every boy in the Various mission schools is taken out, and encouraged to plant a tree — with the I understanding that he looks after his tree till it' is able to look after itself — no mean undertaking, for during certain periods of the year the trees must be ■watered twice a day. CRIMINAL SETTLEMENTS. , Perhaps the most interesting work . undertaken by the Salvation Army in India, and one which has had the far-thest-reaching results, has been the establishment of criminal settlements. The criminal caste of India is composed of nomadic tribe6— Doms, Haburahs, Bhatus, Saneiahs, and many others— 10)000 in all,, criminals for generations, and a menace to India. No roads were eafu. and travellers went in fear of their lives. The Indian Government conceived the idea of confining these tribes in settlements, under the charge of native police. Thifi plan failed, however, Sir John Ewatt, late Governor of the United Provinces, conferred with the late General Booth as to .whether the Army could not ronder the Government at6Ustance- with these people. As a result the settlements were taken over by the Salvation Army, and where there Were three settlements' now there are ten. The land, the buildings, and the people aa'e supplied by Government, the Army • does ■ the rest. 'Every criminal, after lie has served his term, is compelled to enter a settlement, with his 'wife and family, and a year's imprisonment is the penalty for breaking bounds. Agriculture, weaving, and different industries are taught in the- settlements, which are visited" periodically by Government Commissioners and superintendents of police. Where once the , traveller went in fear, of his life, he now passes in Safety between fields of smiling corn. There are still another. 8000 of these people to be taken into the settlements, but workers cannot be supplied quickly enough, says Adjutant Carter. All this is accomplished in the face of almost incredible difficulties— in the face of caste prejudice, the greatest stumbling block of the Indian missionary, terrible heat, plagues of insects. bad water, thieves, who will even undermine the; walls of -your house to get inside. Adjutant Carter has a vivid recollection of travelling from one station to another, in a bullock cart, revolver in hand, followed by thieves, dodging from tree to tree— and not so very long ago either. "THERE IS MAGIC IN" THE EAST " But in spite of monsoons and mosquitoes, there is magic in the East, so jealously guarded from any encroachment of new conditions or change of ,custom, says Mrs. Carter. There is brilliant glow and colour. Every province has its different dress, and the women working in the fields— for in India the women bear the burden and heat of the day— wear Sares of beautifully blended colours. In the Punjab both men and women wear tiousers. Then there are the Bhils. tlie nborVinal class of India, armed with bows „nd arrows, their women wearing rings of different metal fiom knee to ankle, and from wrist to elbow. Every woman in India wears , jewellery, unless she be a widow, and even tor the millions of child widows a brighter dawn is breaking, 'the officers of the Salvation Army, both men and women, wear the pretty native dress, with the i exception of trousers, "X draw the line 1 fchoru." said Mrs. Carter laughing, "it

is both cool and comfortable, and we get nearer to the people." "How do you manage about food?" "Well, that is rather a problem for people living on the plains among the native villages. There is, of course, rice and curry, and a very palatable native bread, not unlike puff pastry, and we get plenty of potatoes and onions, and native cucumbers and melons, and then there is a ghee ; it is just boiled butter, made from buffalo milk. It is white as paper, and will keep sweet for a year. It is very nourishing, and is considered a luxury. But Europeans usually find buffalo milk too rich, it i gives them indigestion. We get very little meat. The Hindoo never kills. Ho wouldn't harm a mosquito or a flea, bite they ever so hard ; you see he might be killing a grandmother or an aunt, or a forty-second cousin. The Hindoo believes in the transmigration' of life, and every man must pay the penalty of his sins— there 'is no forgiveness in his creed. The Mohammedans pray five times a day, , but they don't credit their •women with possessing souls. The women never w^lk with their husbands, they walk behind, carrying the bundles and the boxes and the babies. But, says Mrs. Carter, a brighter day is, slowly but surely, dawning for Indian women.