SALVATION ARMY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1917, Page 5

SALVATION ARMY.

VISIT OF DOMINION CHIEF SECRETARY. The local corps of the Salvation Army was visited yesterday by Colonel McInnes, chief secretary for New Zealand, who was accompanied by Staff-Captain Wallace, divisional secretary. Throughout the day special meetings were held, at which the visiting officers gave stirring addresses. As'this was the first occasion on which Colonel Mclnnes had visited New Plymouth since his appointment to his present office, the meetings were looked forward to with a great deal of interest, and large audiences gathered. Colonel Mclnnes spoke in the open-air service on Saturday night, and also at the morning meeting in the Salvation Army hall yesterday. In the afternoon the colonel gave one of those forceful and inspiring addresses which are only possible by those who have had a long and close association with the work of the Salvation Army. The meeting was. held in the Good Templar Hall, and was presided over by Mr. W. A. Collis (deputy-Mayor). Mr. Collis, in introducing Colonel Mclnnes, referred to the social and spiritual aspects of the army's work. Lieut.-Colonel Mclnnes was given a good reception, and, after a sweeping survey of the many ramification)) of the Salvation Army, said that the driving force of all the work was the impulse of religion. In touching upon the rescue work of the army, it was stated that last yeaT 0000 girls were rescued from lives of immorality, without respect, to belief or creeds. He also referred to the orphanage work of the army, and said that in spite of the increasing demands upon their accommodation, cases were constantly being brought to them, and he said only a few weeks ago a pitiful case had been brought under his notice from the New Plymouth district. Colonel Mclnnes then proceeded to relate the story of the life of Rosie Bannister, or what he termed "A Modern Miracle." The atory was woven round the life of a girl born in a small English town, whose parents died while she 'was yet young, and who was at the time what was known as a "half-timer" in a Lancashire factory, where, after reaching the age of 13, she became a "full timer." Later, as the result of a quarrel with her cousin, to whom she had been committed at her mother's death, she fell an easy prey to immoral influences. The ultimate result of the realisation of the wrong she had fallen into was the cause of a desperate crime committed by the subject of the story against the man who had betrayed her; but her youth and other extenuating circumstances were responsible for her escaping the full penalty of the law. Her banning as a criminal, and the difficulties experienced in the search for employment, were told by Colonel Mclnnes, who had personally been in touch with the subject of his story. It was such cases as that .related by Colonel Mclnnes which brought the army's social work into being. It was because the army had been prepared to adopt whatever means proved the most successful that its work for downfallen humanity had done so much. Colonel Mclnnes then related how the army had got hold of Rosie Bannißter—a drunken and degraded specimen of humanity—and how, under more healthful influences, she was rescued from her old life, and, through other friends, was given a now chance in life. The speaker also told of how, some time afterwards, the rescued woman had told before a large audience in her own native town the story, of her life of sin and ultimate reclamation. Colonel Mclnnes concluded with a thrilling account of the result of Rosie Bannister's changed life, and also made a vehement indictment of the liquor traffic, which, he said, was at the root of all social evils. j The address was punctuated by frequent applause, and at the end of the, meeting a vote of thnnks was accorded the chairman. At night a meeting was held in the same hnll, and Colonel Mclnnes again gave a very powerful address.