The Church Army

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 64, 9 December 1930, Page 13

The Church Army

Sir, —In 1910 a self-denial movement was started in Hawke’s Bay, having for its object help to poor children, say, by one packet of cigarettes less a week, or one visit the less to entertainments, one glass less, or to make “the ribbon that ties my bonnie brown hair” last a little longer, and the frock; any movement that inculcates thrift and self-denial is worthy of a hearing. We are continually having letters showing that the underlying thought of the Church Army is bearing fruit, as the following will show: A school teacher in the Auckland district writes: "I am sending herewith the contributions of about 200 children to the Christmas dinner fund for poor children. Many of them had to deny themselves some little pleasure in order to contribute.” A Maori teacher says: “I have only 13 in my school, three of whom are pakehas. They earned money to enable them to help the poor children by collecting wood for sale.” A North .Canterbury teacher says: I have only four children in my little school, so I know that we could not help much. I told them about the slum children of England and urged them to deny themselves something, with the result that I am sending 5/-.” Six thousand New Zealand dinners have' been given to poor children in one year, from our self-denial fund. This year is a hard one financially, both here and at Home, which will give an impetus to many to exercise the Christian virtue of self-denial in order to be able to help those in. need. Nearly, all who have replied to this patriotic request by sending 2/- postal notes have done so anonymously. I cannot therefore thank them personally, but ask you to kindly do so through your columns. These silver threads of selMenial, _or they may well be called golden, are being woven into a skein of kindness which reaches across the ocean to the Motherland and is described by our chief as a link of love between the children (and adults also) of the Mother Country and her daughter New Zealand, —I am. etc., F. W. WHIBLEY. Kukuta, Wanganui. ,