Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1932. SALVATION ARMY LEADERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 95, 22 March 1932, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1932. SALVATION ARMY LEADERS

The leaders of the Salvation Anny, General and Mrs Higgins, will receive an enthusiastic reception, to-morrow, on their arrival in Palmerston North from Auckland. Their visit is an event of outstanding importance- not alone to adherents of their faith in this city, but to the community as a whole. It is obviously very difficult, if not impossible, for those at the head of some religious denominations to visit the outposts of the world, and democratic and world-wide institution though the Army be, it is a rare event to entertain its Com-mander-in-Chief within these shores. The fact that General Higgins is the third Salvationist to reach this high post may explain this to a certain degree, but the leader of this great organisation has such exacting duties to fulfill, with a rigorous demand upon the time at his disposal at headquarters in London, that the people of New Zealand are very grateful -indeed that he can meet and talk to them. General Higgins and his devoted wife have risen to eminence in the Salvation Army by ability and the merit of personality. They are typical of the splendid type of educated manhood and womanhood who are directing the destinies of the Army in the wide' fields of its labours. There is a French proverb which says that travels are beneficent to youth, and the Salvation Army recognises its force. General Bramwell Booth, son of the founder of the Army, travelled worldwide in its interests, visiting New Zealand. General Higgins in the capacity of chief secretary spent eight years in the United States, and- he has also travelled extensively in Britain, through European countries, Canada and South Africa. His present tour will extend his wide knowledge with first-hand information of New Zealand and Australia. Mrs Higgins _ is an officer of considerable ability in administration work, _ who has travelled extensively in the Far East, in South America, and on the Continent. . The welcome at Palmerston North will be much more litan a local affair, the gathering including Salvationists from every town m the Central North Division, which extends to New Plymouth on this coast- and includes part of Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa. It is, in fact, as much their welcome"- as that of the residents of Palmerston North, and they are keen to 1 meet the great personality chosen by the Supremo Council to be Commander-in-Chief of the organisation that exerts its influence in eighty-one countries, preaches the Gospel in fifty-eight languages, has 14,000 corps and outposts, publications with a circulation of 1,750,000, and a staff of 30,000, including 18,000 officers engaged in field work and 4000 in the social departments. That is a tremendous advance from the days when General William Booth was laying the foundations of the movement which has prospered amazingly.