The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1883. THE SALVATION ARMY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1108, 22 May 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1883. THE SALVATION ARMY.

The Salvation Army opened its campaign h Christchureh last Sunday. The army consisted of three captains and two women, who it is supposed comprised the ran'c and file- Tiitsy held three services in the G dety Theatr", and paraded the city singing hymns. At the morniner and afternoon serv : cns they were well freafeil, hut the evening services appear to hove been a vny. stormy affair. The Gaiety was crowded

to excess, and the yelling 1 and hooting was tremendous. According to he Press the meeting had to be brought to a premature close, but this only served to add to the rage nnd fury of the unruly mob. They refused to leave the theatre, and commenced yelling and hooting with an energy that would have been commendable if employed in a better cause. The police had at last to be called in. On their way home the unfortunate army was roughly used, and it was not without some difficulty that the poor men escaped maltreatment at the hands of a mob of 600 or 700 larrikins. Captain Pollard says he had never even in London been treated, so roughly before, and Captain Wright said they would have a ' tough job' in converting- those present. This is simply disgraceful. We do not believe in the army, we have no sympathy with it or with its method of conducting its services, but we feel convinced that its members are honest, that their aims arc good, and therefore we think that to

treat them in the scandalous manner in which the ruffians and blackguards of Christchurch seem to have done is a disgrace to our boasted civilization of the 19th century. The atheist, the scoffer, the freethinker, the spiritualist, tho inspirationalist, the mountebank, and every other charlaton whose only object is to make money out ot the gullibility of the people are allowed to come and go unmolested, but these poor men who come with the word of God on their lips, and whose only object is to remind men of their duty to their Maker are treated I with scorn, contempt and savage ruffianliness. We are afraid that this betrays a tendency to scoff at religious teaching. It looks uncommonly like a disregard for tho Word of God, and a determination to resist its inculcations. It may be, however, the result of thonghtlessness on the part of the i larrikin element, but, even so, it shows how the education ot that element has been neglected. One thing is certain. It betrays a want of good morals and good manners on the part of the Christchurch roughs, and shows these two things have not been included in the curriculum of their youthful studies. The Word of God has been banished from the schools ; they have not drank its refining influence vrith the A.8.C., and the result is they are better up in ribaldry and ruffianism, Circumstances will not permit us to pursue th is subject further at present, but we think we said sufficient to show fathers that if they neglect making religion the groundwork of their children's education a day will come when they will regret it. . <*- : EUROPEAN FLAX. The importance o£ the flax industry may be gathered from the following figures :—The area planted in flax in the Western States of America, in 1881 was 1,127,300 acres, divided as follows : lowa, 287,400 ; Indiana, 193,400 ; Kanpas, 150,900 ; Illinois, 160,300 j Minnesota 95,200 ; Ohio, 80,600 ; Missouri, 55,000 ; Wisconsin, 44,500 ; and Nebraska, 50,000. Yet upon all this area no merchantable flax fibre was produced, the flax being burned or allowed to rot, The yield of seed was about 8,000,000 bushels, valued at about eight millions of dollars. The total acreage of flax in Europe, where the fibre is utilised, amounted in 1880 to 3,334.329, and the value of the fibre produced to 108,408,000 dollars. The average money yield per acre in flax seed therefore in the Western States was only about seven dollars, as against an average yield in Europe for fibre alone of 32 dollars. Belgium, ou an area onee'ghth as great as that given to flax in the Western American States, annually produces 1,000,000 dollars more ; and France, with one-seventh of the area, produces annually 3,000,000 more. This will, we believe, convince any one that the industry is a most important one, and that this district may well congratulate itself on having floated a company to develope it. It will be seen from the above extract that the Americans cannot pro .luce fibre, but depend solely on the seed, and yet it pays them, while in Europe, where the fibre is utilised; the profit is immense. In this colony the climate is admirably suitable for the growth of flix, and subsequently we are led to believe that better results will be produced than in any other country referred to. We trust the directors will go to work with energy, and bring into existence as soon as possible an industry that is calculated to add to t.be prosperity of the district. J