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Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42781, 21 September 1905, Page 2

Here in Now Zoaland, this land of brightness and wealth of stmsliino, whore paupers in tho true sound of tho jvbj’d are almost unknown, ono and fill hayo wrnon ft j bo thankful that tilings aro so. Those wlio liayo lived

and worked in the gloom of a large i town in England, that congested, though wonderful country, havo soon a very striking contrast to the picture I of daily life which is hore revealod. The misery and abject poverty of tho teeming thousands ; their horizon perpetually bounded by neighbouring buildings which seem to enter into a conspiracy to exclude the sunshine from the streets. Think of the dismal winter days whon gloomy fogs hang over tho city, making day as black and dark as night, whon thousands, in the midst of plonty, starve for want of food and fuol, ono cannot help recognising the fact that Gonoral Booth’s proposal to Australia, if put into operation, must be tho moans of launching many of England’s unhappie3t people upon a better and brighter course of life. But whilst many deserving and honest people may be found, there are still at least an equal number who, degraded by overy form of vice and sin, and possessing an in-born laziness, are almost beyond human powers of reclamation, and, being as thoy are, the everliving propagators of dirt, disease, and drunkoness, would scarcely be considered worthy to bo received as colonists by any land. And it is beings such as these that now causo England the greatest concern, as indeed is the case in varying degroos in most other countries. Many have been tho sehemes proposed for Utopian towns or ideal cities, but up to tho present very few of them have been put into practice. Sir Oliver Lodge, speaking on tho subject said “To think that the ideal is impossible is to show a lack of faith. It cannot be achieved quickly, but if each generation will endeavour to contribute its quota to tho common amelioration, something lise a millennium may arrive before people atipresent think it at all likely.” And herein lies the solidarity of General Booth’s scheme, for, whilst its object is the immediate alleviation of outcast poor, or people requiring help and assistance, people bowed down by trouble and sickness, accident or sorrow, yet always keeps prominently ill view that reformation of character which is undoubtedly the true secret of improvement.