A Week of Self-Denial.

Te Aroha News, Volume XII, Issue 1771, 18 September 1895, Page 2

A Week of Self-Denial.

THE ARMY APPEALS FOR HELP FOR ITS MISSIONARY WORK. Judged by its Social operations, the Salvation Army deserves well of any people. That it should have five Rescue Homes,* two Night Shelters,, and one Prison Gate Brigade Home, besides private enquiry and registry offices, at work in New Zealand, is a sure proof that its officers and soldiers here are alive to the. needs of the com l lnunifcy generally. But those, Of our readers who are in the habit of, measuring its successors by the results of the Ariny achieves in it® work of uplifting the fallen, may be Surprised to learn that as . a Missionary agency it is fast extending its operations , throughout the world.. At the commencement of the year, its flag was flying in the following countries—viz., England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, France, Switzerland, Holland,: Belgium, Germany, Don? mark, Sweden, Norway, Cbnadiw United States ofAtnerica,® Argentine Republic, S->» t'l Africa, St, Helena, India, Ceylon, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasjnania and New Zealand, Finland, Italy, Jamaica; Gibraltar,,and Java; and mow* we hear that . : Ariny officers are: proceeding to Egypt, Japan, Iceland, and British Guiana as well; these countries having been added to the already list. The red-coated . waryiorß of the Cross are also contemplating a descent nppn. Malta, once the home of! A scarcely less chivalric race than themselves, and their operations are to be extended to Palestine as well, Jerusalem being one of the chosen centres for the further carrying on of Salvation Army work. There is, too, a staff of 11,585 officers , throughout the world engaged evclusively in Salvation Army work, and some 3,292 corps, or Churches, these figures being taken gto the 81st'May last. This necessarily betokens a large following in the way of soldiers and recruits, the number bf whom carmot now be far short of a quarter of a million souls, added to which' there are the still larger number of habitual attendants, .comprising, the '• congregations ’ at Salvation Army barracks throughout the world, these being’ in the proportion: of ten to oneascompared with thC Spldiery. All this? for an organisatibn which has only how entered upon the. Slit year of its existence, points to : the presence of a , veiy real force making for that righteousness which, In.the words of the Book of hooks, we -are tblii ‘ exalteth a nation.’ - '. 'j „

Of . the many countries in which the Sal-, vation Army is, now at work, some seventeen have witnessed the further develop?, ment of its social operations, the' number of its institutions in these being as

Food Depots and Shelters ... ... 71 Workshops and Factories . ... ‘ 2i; Slum Posts , ... ... ... 81 ♦Rescue Homes (including to hospitals) 69 Labour Bureaux and Registry Offices : 29 ♦Prison Gate Brigade Homes ... . ... 11 •Farms... ••• ... ... 6 •Creches and Children’s Homes i;V'* 3

Total ..; 281 While the Army seeks to place all these institutions on a paying basis, and so labours that the recipients of its help are neither pauperised nor humiliated : by ,the feeling that they are- the recipients oi charity, a great deal of necessarily uhremunerotive’expenditure has to be incurred in the, maintenance , of so many . agencies dealing with the varied Jjorms of distress common to humanity the world over; and the call upon the spiritual funds t of the Army—that is/ upon those moneys 'raised principally by the pence of the pooi and the contributions of itssoldiery, mostly of the working class (for ifeis a mistake to suppose that the Arifiy is endowed by the charity of the well-to-do) necessarily heavy/'so inuch so, that in order, to maintain its funds in anything like proportion to its outgoings, the Army has to ma- e continual calls upon the devotion of its people.* *' , - -• Weeks of Self-Denial are more common with us since tho Army’s advent to those lands of the Southern Seas, and it should not be fox-gotten that Salvationists were the first to show thp world what patient self*, denial and self-sacrifice can accomplish Jn the ft ay of raising funds carrying on of works of undoubted; usefulness in our midst. : The near approach of the Army’s annual Week of Player, Thanksgiving, and Self-Denial (the dates are fixed from Saturday last, ,14th insfc., to .Friday next, 20th inst., both days inclusive), lends point to this, notice of the world-wide operations which the Salvationists have in . hand; and w& shall be glad to take charge of, and for-wa-rd to the proper quarter, . tiops.or donations which Our readers may be inclined to, send along to help forward the work of so deserving an organisation as* the Salvation Army. Our readers may, however, if they are so minded,, forward their subscriptions direct to Brigadier Hbskih, at. the Army’s New Zealand Headquarters, 126 and 126. Lichfield Street, Christchurch, or hand them to the Captain of the nearest .Army corps. Wherever they send them, there is no doubt they will be thankfully received and well applied. . # Qf these there are sixteen Rescue Homes six Prison Gate Homes, two Labour Farms, anfl one, Boys’ Home established in the Australasian Colonies. There are also some half-dozen Shelters now open in these Colonies, which which Are not included in the above figures.