SALVATION ARMY.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20472, 16 February 1932, Page 3

SALVATION ARMY.

j - | THE GENERAL'S TOUR. j VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND. (TEOM OUR OWK coßsiaroitDnx.; LONDON, J anuarv 5. General Higgins and Mrs Higgins (of the toalyatiou are due -tc>.;l}egin. an Empire lour on February 3rd. They ill be accompanied by Colonel Puguiire (A.-D.C.) an ' Major Frank Taylor (priv&te secretary). B According Lo present .oiucers' uu;otings will be Jieiu m Jolouto, and public meetings xii Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and JUos Angeles. from Los Angeles the Gen.eial \\ id go to Honolulu, where he Avill conduct public meetings anxi officers' councils and visit sociaj institutions ior . men and women. Tlie General and his party are due to arrive at Auckland on Monday., March 21st. aud will leave on April 18th tor Sydney. The cam-1-a.gn 111 Australia will begin in Melbourne on May 12th, and will include ii visit to lasmania. Leaving Premantle on June 6th General and Mrs Jriiggins will return via Suez, calling at Colombo, and reaching London on July 2nd. Llie programme for New Zealand as present arranged is as iollows ■ Arriving at Auckland on March 21st, there is to be a civic reception, and the General will hold a business men's meeting and visit institutions on March 2-nd. On .March 23rd he goes on to l'cilmcrsion North, the 24th to Masterton, and then straight down to Christchurch overnight, arriving for the 2otb. Chris tehurch Programme. At Cliristehurch there is to be a c:vic reeepLion, and on the Sunday Meetings aii day, at one of which it is possible the Prime Minister will occupy the chair. Un Monday, March 28th, the Genera! his party to Greymouth. (hi the 29th they return and go south to Ashburton. They will be at Timaru on the 30th, Oamaru on the 31st, and I 'linedm on Friday, April Ist. . '.' le usual receptions and meetings uill be held, at Dimedin over the end, and a visit will be paid to Inverc.Mgill on April 4th. The General is to be back in Weill,gton on Tuesday, April sth, where lie will lemain until April 9th. On the 10th. 11th. and 12th he will visit Aapier and Hastings, and go on to I L.-torua on April 13th. On Friday, I the 15th, he will be in Hamilton, and in Auckland again on April 16th, 17th, riui 18th, embarking for Sydney on Lie last-mentioned dav. " ■ j

Fifty Years with the Army. JJuloiv being made General, Com mission or iligjTins had been Chief of Stag ioj- teu .years, reaching that post after i Itirty-soven gears' terviee in the Army a3 an officer, lie is therefore not new t'-> « position of power, and his gra&p in Army allairs comes like second nature. As Chief of the Staff ho proved lii.-. administrative capacity. Ho lias clear vision, sound judgment, and tbe gilt of decision. It would be- true to bay that he is an all-round man, with strong humanitarian instinct and deeply sincere in his convictions. General l"i.i&Kins is well beloved by the Army til devoted people which lie has been called upon to command. Tho General's entry 1 into the Army was unique from the-fact that his father and he joined at tho same time. \vlien the call came to them from tho Founder of the Army—William Booth, us is well-known, had an eye for a man --they, without hesitation, launched themselves into the grim .fight that William : Booth wa s waging against tho world, the flesh, the Devil, and conventional opinion. Tho General is a native nf Reading, and it. was in 1882, when lie and his father were devloping a j:.i - ocres«ivo business, they cast r.side their commercial ambitions and took up their duties with the Army. A Rapid Rise. Both the General and his father ■ quickly rose to positions of authority and responsibility in the Army. Wiggins the elder was one of the notablo l and of stalwarts who, in the Army : s early days, helped to lay firmly its foundations. The General graduated through all tho ranks of officenship. For about ten years lie served in the United States of America, as chief secretary to the. Consul and Commissioner Booth-Tucker, and later to Commander lfiyangeline Booth. He has travelled with General William Booth on several of his memorable world tours. He has visited Canada frequently, been to the Far East, and made innumerable journeys in connexion with the Army's business on the Continent of Europe. During tho period of the war lie was what is known in the Army as British Commissioner—that is, lie was in charge of the evangelistic side of the Army's work throughout. England, Scotland. Ireland, and Wales.

Visit to South Africa. •Recently the General has vLsited South Africa and the United States of America. Jn South Africa General Higgins visited seventy centres of Salvation Army activity. America received him enthusiastically. Travelling from New York to San Francisoo a number of the great cities were visited in route, and large crowds gathered to hear the General. General Higgins has been ably supported throughout his career by Mrs tliggiiiis, who became a Salvation Anny officer when she was seventen years of age. For many years she was hoad of the Home League of the Army, which brings a ray of light to the lives of women and children. She inaugurated the "Pilgrimages of Kemembrance," the Army's system of conducting relatives and friends of fallen soldiers to the war graves in France and Flanders, and providing them with comfortable hostel accommodation and looking after them generally when they aro abroad. Four of the children of General and Mrs Higgins are officers, of the Salvation Army. Land in the Empire. In a recent letter to "The Times" General Higgins calls attention to the reclamation work which will shortly add to Holland 1000 square miles of new land available for agricultural uses. "In contemplating a visit to Australia and New Zealand," he says, "I know I shall see in Canada —as well as in Australia and New Zealand—vast ureas of undeveloped territory, and in the background 1 shall have the haunting spectre of the great pressure of population here—millions of them unemployed—and a 'surplus' of 2,000,000 fWomen. And I shall be led to wonder what is in store for the British Empire. "Ten years have passed since Holland started the works in question, and there are 20 years' further work planned for. What might Britain do with a 30 years' programme of Emprie settlement?"