COMMISSIONER AND MRS HAY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9709, 3 February 1910, Page 5

COMMISSIONER AND MRS HAY.

[ A HEARTY WELCOME. I There was a large gathering at the Masterton Railway Station, yesterday, to welcome Commissioner and Mrs Hay, on the occasion of their first visit to Masterton. They were accompanied by Lieut.-Colonel's Birkenshaw and Knight, Brigadiers Albiston and Bray, Staff-Captain Colvin and Adjutant Irrrie! The assemblage included a large number of Salvationists and members of the general public. After the Mayor (Mr P. L. Hoilings) had extended a hearty welcome to the visitors, the Commissioner and his staff were conveyed into the town in motor cars, very generously provided Jby residents for the occasion.

EVENING MEETING. There a large attendance at the Army Barracks in the evening when a public meeting of welcome was given the visitors. Lieut.Colonei Knight, Provincial Commander for the North Island, occupied the chair, and extended a cordial welcome to Commissioner and Mrs Hay. The speaker remembered the Cormissioner at Home years ago as a Lieutenant, but the time bad flop n since then, and by dint of hard woik the Commissioner now occupied a position of great responsibility.wha'ch called forth the greatest physical and mental energy, love and devotion to the cause. He was glad to welcome Mrs Hay, who for over seven years accomplished noble worn in the slums of London, with staffs toiling nisrht and day under her supervision.

Commissioner Hay was warmly welcoued on rising to speak, and expressed pleasure at the cordial reception given them. Salvation Army was developing its officers, and he would lik& to say that they were ever on the look out for one who "would bring grist to the mill," and in this direction their one concern was for their fellow men, and hoV they could assist them in every pos. sible way. The Army must be measured by what it was doing for the people, and in looking round the Dominion there were abundant evidences that they were carrying oat their.duties with remarkable, 1 skill. The speaker strongly urged those present to look the whole world in the face with courage and confidence, and not to take a pessimistic view of life. The Army with its varied operations went into the "highways and hedges" rescuing men, women and children, and doinjr all the good possible morally, spiritually and physically. With the growth of independence they bad a grand chance to extend their sphere of operations, and in this connection he referred to some of the hardships and difficulties that had to be overcome in the early days of the existence of the institution., In Finland for instance, they had to combat with the military, civil and church authorities. He had been told when he was there that the one thing the Russian authorities did not want was a free opinion on religion. All he could say was that a religion of compulsion was not a religion but a serfdom. The Army was very young yet. and no doubt had its faults, but it was increasing in virility and power every year, and it would be hard to estimate its possibilities in, say, seventy or eighty years from now.

Mrs Commissioner Hay was given a moat enthusiastic reception when she rose to address the audience. She is a wonderfully graphic speaker, and throws into her remarks an earnestness that carries conviction from start to finish. In her dealings with the London slums she ventilates her subject most thoroughly, and makes no apology for doing so, The recital of her experiences and work covering a period of over years is not pleasant, but it is the cold, bare truth, and certainly those who previously only had a vague idea of the horrors of sluradum before the address possessed a different idea of it afterwards. The speaker was pleased to say that a great deal of success bad attended their efforts to ameliorate the conditions of the poor in the slums of London. Of course they met with rebuffs, and on occasions had been mistaken for spies. It was wonderful to hear the expressions of gratitude from those they had assisted to the best of their ability. It was a distressing sight to see half-clad children going into the streets looking into the duetbins for scraps of food that those present would not give to a dog The condition and suffering of the children would soften even the hardest heart, and some of the scenes at the "fresh air" outings were pathetic in the extreme.