Visit of Salvation Army Leaders

Grey River Argus, 18 October 1948, Page 7

Visit of Salvation Army Leaders

P.A. WELLINGTON, Oct 15. Two' Salvation Army Commissioners are expecte-d in New Zealand during the next few months. Commissioner J. E. Smith, of Melbourne, the immediate predecessary of Commissioner R. M. Astbury, as Territorial Commander in New Zealand, will revisit the Dominion, with his wife, in November. Commissioner Smith was also private secretary to the founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth. At the end of January, Commissioner and Mrs Hugh Sladen, of London, are expected to arrive in New Zealand for a five-weeks stay. Commissioner Sladen, a nephew of the Rt. Rev H. St. Barbe Holland, Dean of Norwich, and former Bishop of Wellington, is a Rotarian and will make special contact with the Wanganui Rotarians, from whom he received scores of parcels for distribution in London. He is also a member of the English Speaking Union, and the Royal Empire Society, and will probably address some of these organisations. New Zealand's representative at next year's international conference in England of the Salvation Army will be" Territorial Commander, Commissioner R. M. Astbury. This was announced at the Army’s headquarters in Wellington yesterday. The conference has been called to cuscuss the world probelms of the Army, and will consider the rehabilitation of its work in countries such as Korea, Japan, and parts of China, where, during the war, the Army's identity was largely lost under a cloud of bureaucratic controls. _ Another important item for discussion will be the reconstruction of the Army’s work in the countries of Europe, where, before the war, rapid progress was being made. Australia will be represented by Commissioners J. E. Smith and J. James, and the conference wil be presided over by General A. V\. 1. Osborn.