THE SALVATION ARMY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2336, 30 June 1887, Page 3

THE SALVATION ARMY.

■The annual May meeting of the Salvation Ariftywstsheldon Wednesday the4th,May n Exeter Hall, when Mr., and Mrs. Booth were present, the former presiding. There was a very large attendance, the body of the great hall being crowded in every part. a strong .brass band in atten-d&TOeJ-'atia the entrance of Mr: 5 , Mrs. and Miss Booth was greeted by a flourish of: trumpets. Throughout the proceedings the ""Athens"'were, loud arid. freiqtfent, as; also were the " Hallelujahs" and other expressions in respect to the utterauce of' 'which the army as become notorious. Mr. Booth early in themeeting, shouted ''Bless 1 the General," '•Bless the .majors," "Bless the- army," " Bles& the Unionists," " Bless the Home Rulers," &c., and wound up by shouting "'Bless everybody," to'all of which ! the audience, responded by hearty shouts, 'of Amen." Mr. Booth then gave his| address, in the course of which he said,he' irad.no shortcomings to report. Speaking in metaphor, he said the wings of the Salvation Army were longer and stronger, than evprj so .that during the year they .had been faking longer flights and acquiring greater results than they had been previously able to do in the history of the, society. The object of the army was to bring salvation to mankind; and, during the year they had passed through the training; homes 484 lasses and 445 lads. Thus, 93!) : young people had graduated, during the; past year in the "Salvation university,"] and there were 473 in training to-day. Since January there had been 1,009 applications for admission to the ministry of the; army, and of.thesel2o had been accepted and were ready to .be taken in. Not only had; these officers been trained, but used, 35 new corps and'ss new outposts having been established, while in addition there were the travelling forts. He hoped to see the: day when the army would number 340,000 {fighting officers. He did not, he said, pur-; pbse'tb.submit any balance-sheet, but every farthing was accounted for and copies of it mighty be . bought at , the doorat2d_; nor did'he propose to do any begging in particular, though he proposed to do somethinggeneral in that way, as he was anxious to extend the operations of the organization. It was reported that the army had extended; its operations to-Germany, .Holland, Den■mark, LaplJuid,- the Transvaal, and St. Helena; while.among those in attendance were Major Weeresooiye, a native of India,, who spoke of the work done in Ceylon and India, and Staff-Captain Hellberg, of Scandinavia. In the course of the evening, Mr Booth referred to the rescue work of the society, and said that they had .now five , homes in London and six; in the provinces.: Through these 1,055 cases had passed, and .of .the 845 who'had left Gl3 hadlproved satisfactory. They |had now begun the work in the West-end of London, and were going; in for' saving dukes aud earls and members of Parliament. The army newspaper, the * War Cry, was now published in eight different languages, and; Tiad a vast cir-; — s culation, equal to 430,000 weekly.