PARALLEL DRAWN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 November 1941, Page 2

PARALLEL DRAWN

ROTARY & SALVATIONISM ADDRESS BY COLONEL. EBBS. REPATRIATION WORK IN BELGIUM. An interesting account of his experiences in Europe and later in America was given by Colonel W. A. Ebbs, Chief Secretary of the Salvation Army in New Zealand, at yesterday afternoon’s session of the Masterton Rotary Club.

At the outset Colonel Ebbs said that there existed a strange parallel between Rotary and the Salvation Army —a parallel in that both had a symbol of service. The Rotary organisation was forty years younger than the Salvation Army. The Army, since 1865 had extended its work into 96 countries. The Rotary organisation had similarly grown into an international force.

In giving a brief account of his experiences in Europe and in America, Colonel Ebbs stated that he visited the United States in 1929, one of the most difficult years in the history of America. Everything had gone wrong. Over 5,000 banks had failed and the country was in a state of unnutterable chaos. However, he was glad that prior to that he had spent some eleven years in three countries. He was glad that he went to Europe before going to America as it gave him a deeper appreciation of events. As divisional commander in Northern France, with headquarters in Paris, in 1919, he was concerned with the work of repatriating a crushed people. His work was to help people who were living in broken houses or in trenches covered with boards, and minister to their spiritual needs. He was among people who had seen their ideals brought down to the lowest levels. He had been stirred by the equanimity and the stability of the Belgian people. King Albert of the Belgians would always be in the minds of the people of the world for his steadfast stand. Colonel Ebbs said that if anyone said, as it had been said today, that there were no such things as criminal attacks on civilians in the last war, it was sheer nonsense. He -said he had seen and spoken with women who had had their bodies disfigured by the Germans. Referring to France, ■ Colonel Ebbs said he had been profoundly disappointed with the way it had failed to live up to its ideals. Turning to his work in Italy,'Colonel Ebbs said he spent five and a half years there at a most interesting time in that country’s history. He thought Fascism was ideal for Italy and that Mussolini would have been wise to have realised that and to have kept his place in the sun. Over a period of 70 years, before Mussolini, Italy had had 72 governments in 70 years. At heart the Italian people were all right, but they had been badly led. Colonel Ebbs observed that he had spoken with Mussolini for 35 minutes. The conversation was conducted in French In conclusion Colonel Ebbs dealt with the hospitality and internationalism which marked the Rotary clubs of America.