SALVATION ARMY CONTRACTS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3515, 13 October 1882, Page 4

SALVATION ARMY CONTRACTS.

" Civis" in the Otago Witness writes :— " It seems that there is a commercial side to the Salvation Army movement. Under the name of the ' Uniform Department' a commissariat supplies slops and stores to ' soldiers 'at prices which are believed to be highly remunerative to the headquarters' staff. Thus there is an army bonnet—black straw, trimmed in the plainest possible manner with black ribbon, —the retail value of which an expert reckons at three shillings, and the wholesale price at a shilling. In the War Cry this bonnet is advertised at prices ranging from live shillings to half a guinea. Amongst other Army stores offered for sale at the Uuniform Department are men's uniforms from £1 8s to £3 ss; privates and officers' caps, three shillings. Sisters' uniforms —serge dresses from 17s to 265, and serge jackets from 12s Gd to 2Gs Gd. One would like to know whether the rato of profit is as great on these articles as on the Army bonnet. The ' Uniform Department,' like other army commissariats, gets its supplies by contract. Here for example is a War Cry advertisement: — Salvation Watches. —Wanted, tenders for plain, serviceable watches of two sizes, for men and women, in red enamel case bearing the Army's arms, and minute hand, strong crystal front, plain white face, with plain figures. Quote price per hundred and per thousand for cash on delivery. Address : Uniform Department, with full description. Retailing selling price must not exceed twenty-tiro shillings each, with twelve months warranty for ordinary us^. One English paper remarks that if there are to be ' Salvation Watches'there seems no reason why there shouldn't be 'Salvation Teapots,' 'salvation Knives and Forks,' ' Salvation Beds,' ' Hallelujah Umbrellas,'' Holmes Tables,' and ' Glory Boots.' In other words, there is no reason why General Booth should not run the biggest General Store on the planet, and combine gain with godliness on a grand scale. What becomes of the profits made by tho ' Uniform Department ?' Possibly they are applied to public uses— possibly.not. Army contractors arc notoriously a bad lot, and army contracts offer peculiar facilities for peculation and fraud. In establishing a commissariat for his Army General Booth is pushing military analogies perilously far.