SALVATION ARMY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19735, 27 September 1929, Page 19

SALVATION ARMY.

A LAND COLONY. TRAINING FARM FOR LADS. (ysoH ors ovi LONDON, August 23. Commissioner J. Allister Smitli, International Travelling Representative of the Salvation Army, who was in New Zealand not long ago 011 a business visit in connexion with that organisation, has been appointed Governor of the Land and Industrial Colony at Hadleigh, Essex, near the mouth of the Thames. Hadleigh is the well-known centre where boys are given instruction in various branches of farming before they . go forth to start life in r ' ie Pomin- ! ions. The estate of something approaching 2000 acres was acquired by the Founder of the Army in many people thought it a risky investment. But time lias proved the judgment of tlu- far-seeing old General to "C right, and that of his opponents to be wrong. This colony is indeed a worthy monuj merit to General William Booth. Most i of the estate is 011 high and breezy uplands where the air is bracing. A wide vista includes the low-lying Canvey Island, in the Thames Estuary, where habitation was made possib'e by Dutch settlers many years ago. The Colony consists of drained marshes and saltings, meadows and slopes, arable and pasture lands, orchards and gardens, and the whole estate is a hive of prosperous industry. A feature of its landscape visible for many miles is the ruined Hadleigh Castle, a relic of Piantagenet architecture dating back to the early 13th century. It was built by the Eari of Kent, who was ordered by King John to put out the eyes of Prince Arthur. Dominion visitors, especially those interested in the work of the Salvation Army, might do worse than allot one day to going over this well-equipped, up-to-date centre of healthy activity. There is accommodation for "00 boys, each ot whom spends about two months 111 training before leaving the Mother Country, and as one batch goes off another is ready to come in for instruction. And a splendid type of youth lie always is by the time he has completed his course "in the bracing air of this part of the cost. They are all comfortably housed in dormitories on the sunny slopes. Pedigree Stock. Various profitable enterprises are carried on under experts, and all produce finds a ready market. Most of the output goes to Southend, but some comes up to Co vent Garden for instance, the dairy is famed for its fine pedigree Lincoln red Shorthorns. All the milk which undergoes the tuberculm-free-test, is sold under yearlv contract to Southend to a buyer who collects it. The dairy itself is anl up-to-date and hygienic modern establishment. The boys aro taught milking nnd butter-making, but butter is not produced in marketable quantities. There seems to be hundreds of pigs in all stages of growth, and as they nre all pedigree middle-white Yorkshires, they are in great demand. Shire horses" are bred, sheep also are raised. All crops for this valuable stock are grown on the estate. Xotnble successes have been gained at agricultural and dairy exhibitions and shows. The Glasshouses. The nursery is one of the all-the-vear-round show places of the colony. The glasshouses * produce prolific crops of tomatoes and cucumbers, and. well managed, each glass house can produce three crops a year, for fifter the tomatoes and cucumbers have had their dual innings, the houses are used to bring'on choice chrvsanthemums and Brums and geraniums. Scientific experiments are made by the garden officer, who is an expert, with various manures to find out which give the best resets A greenhouse with 1200 tomato plants will produce three tons —and may produce anything up to five tons. A house of similar size will dive a crop of 4000 cucumbers, tvyice in the season. A few days ago there were to he seen 45,000 chrysanthemum

plants, an d be ready f or be put under g • as the cucumChristmistime as » flower se edl lnR s bers are cut. / oU "° n preparatory to bv the thousand are m, P re P r ? to nest years requ '^ 6 a populous disSouthend is *uc eagi , y afe _ tnct now f dr, f ti p garden and yreensorb most ot i " ~ also a prohouse output. A-parag , s fit able crop. and jhen fnnt section, W at vanetv fruit trees and - shw , t of Pruning and boys regime. , v - e ]i„q Ua ]jfi e< j Under exi.-'r cert an m experts, theretoie, tne leave Hadleigh with 'good preparation for life and work abroad. Every week, moreover, they have to fl t en a c Mire delivered bv the Prmcip ' lecturer of the staff of the East Anglian institute of Agriculture, who goes over from Chelmsford and give? instruction in all subjects appertaining to up-to-date agricultural methods The lecture ha'.i was previously the Salvation Army building at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. To equip the boys more thoroughly still for life in rar-away country districts. instructions are given in'bootmending. rough carpentry, honielv cooking, laundry, and in other departments of domesticity which may prove valuable Inter on; also, there are lectures on health and hygiene. There is still another occupation tarried on at Hadleigh—that of brickmaking. The annual output is about two million, and work is here available for men who may be squeezed out of the London labour market through congestion. The bricks are wire-cut. and tiiev are all sold as soon as they are rerniy- Recently, indeed, several nrders had to be refused becaii.se the kiln capacity could not cope with the demand Retired Officers. There is, of course, the Citadel, and there are various other healthy bran dies of the Army's activities, for the district round is well peopled. Further, on the estate, there are charming, cottages which are occupied by Army officers who have ■ retired after long evangelistic service, very often in foreign countries and in trying climates. The position of Governor of the colony, therefore, is no sinecure, but Commissioner Smith and Mrs Smith xv-ill find different after many vears in Zululand. The Governor has a comfortable house and a nice garden partly of flowerbeds and partly of vegetables. The official installation t-ook place on a recent Sitnday. On tliis occasion Commissioner J. Cunningham—who shortly will leave for New Zealand to succeed Commissioner J. Hav—went down specially to conduct the ceremonv.