WAR WIDOWS

Nelson Evening Mail, 5 July 1916, Page 7

WAR WIDOWS

GENERAL .BOOTH'S TRANSFER 'SCH<E.\fcE. General Booth is launching a scheme .to transfer a ii'um-ber of British widows from th© Old Country -to >the .Dominions ; for •which purpose he proposes to use the widespread l organisation of the Salvationi .Army. He invites the ai-dl of the Governments and people of the Dominions in tihe transferring of 50C0 families (that is, about 5000 widows arid about 10,OGO children), and he estimates that the cost would be £200,C00, the Army's past experience having shown that the cost of transference averages about £4O per family of three souls. He expects, however, that "in addition to offering special reduced fares, which would enable a larger number of families being- brought within the fund, the Overseas Governments would subscribe liberally to the scheme." Here are some points of the proposition-: The census shows that in the United Kingdom; female® outnumber males by nearly I.SCO,COO. This will be inttn-sifie'd by the war. "The Motherland may dnsire to retain all her men. The Overseas Dominions, perhaps, may not- at once be propared to encourage men to settle ontheir territory, having- in- view the reab>sortption of their own sons returned from the wars. But, I submit, there can be only- one v-oiee in regard to the importance of a wise and generous treatment of tihe women of our people. It is vital to the well-being of the whole Empire that this- question should be dealt with promptly and .sagaciously." "No better monument could be raised to the heroism of t'he men who have laid down their lives for the 'Empire than the development of some practical an'd effective plan for Jimintaining their widows andi orphans in permanent comfort. This would* ,be but an act of justice andi not of charity. These proposals were primarily conceived in this spirit, and for reasons to be stated- it is believed they would, accomplish the object suggested." T-he plani is "to raise a fund of £200,060, ajnd place the same in the hands of the Public Trustee, for the purpose of paying the costs incidental to the transference of widows and their families from .the British Isl-eb to the 'King's. Dominions Overseas, with the object, of keeping -pensions intact, and to do so without the suggestion of charity; or, in order that cases where commutation- of pensions has been arranged, 't-he money., or portion of it, may .be usedl for purposes of settlement;." "Widows -would only be sent to towns | or districts where 'arrangements had been made for their welcome by some

responsible person authorised by the •Salvation' Army, who would: see them comfortably initiated into their new homes, ancL guide and assist them until they- were established. 'The Army would 'stand iby' every case for which is asi sumed responsibility for four years. Non-success i» contemplated as a very remote and exceptional contingency, but the Amiyi would bring back to the place froTii whence she emigrated any widow | who proved a failure. In the event of tihe death of a. widow, the care of thechildren would become at once the business of the Army's local representatives." The -work is unsectarian, and has no profit .basis.