A STATEMENT DENIED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 20 June 1936, Page 8

A STATEMENT DENIED

(To The Editor)

Sir,—We wish to register disapproval of a statement made in your columns this evening. A. Morris of Richmond states: “I have and can prove the following statements that the ‘People’s Palaces’ are run tree of labour expenses by employing girls who are sent into these homes either by the Magistrate’s Court or are working out their maternity expenses and eventually discharged without pay.” This statement is absolutely false and misleading. Throughout our years of service we worked under the Hotel Workers’ Award and received union pay. With a combined service of eleven years to our credit, we can say that not in one case was a fellow employee either committed to “The Palace,” from a law court, or was she working out maternity expenses. As non-Salvationists we can say that such conditions are the imaginings of a misinformed person. Mr Morris’ statement blackens the character of any girl formerly employed by the Salvation Army—and we are not prepared to accept such treatment lightly. Seeing the above statement has. appeared in your paper, and the contents have echoed throughout every home in the Nelson district, we demand that Mr Morris shall make a full and satisfactory apology through the same channel. —We are, etc., THREE EX-“PALACE” EMPLOYEES. Nelson, 18th June. (To The Editor) Sir, —Would you kindly publish the following information for which A. Morris has asked. 1. Re alleged runaways from Salvation Army Homes: Going back 20 years no girls have ever run away from any Salvation Army Rescue Homes, with one exception. The girls, usually wayward characters, were brought to a Rescue Home by a Welfare Officer who confessed they were entirely out of hand. These two girls left the Rescue Home, and when found were sent to prison, not by any means at their own request, but at the discretion of the Magistrate. 2. Re alleged subsidisation of orphans, etc.: No child in any Salvation Army Orphanage has a Government subsidy. No other person in any class of social home has a Government subsidy with one exception. Persons sent by a Magistrate to the Inebriates’ Island near Auckland are cared for by Salvation Army officers, and the Government contributes £1 a week towards their expenses. For persons entering the same home by any channel other than that of the Magistrate’s Court, no Government subsidy is received. A. Morris has made an outrageous statement about the female employees of the Peoples’ Palaces. Many of these young women are very fine characters whose only relationship to the Salvation Army is that of an employee. Many of them have held their positions for 10 and 15 years. Among them are my own two sisters, single girls whose characters are above reproach, and I shall await with interest an unqualified withdrawal by A. Morris of his statement that these girls are working off expenses contracted at Salvation Army Maternity Homes. —I am, etc.. FRANCES A. RANKIN, Nelson, 18th June. (To The Editor) Sir, —It has been a matter of interest to me to read the recent correspondence concerning the Salvation Army. What originated in a criticism of the administration of the local officer, has become a bitter denunciation of the organisation as a whole. I do not know, the local officer, nor have I at any time belonged to the Salvation Army, but I have had such intimate knowledge of them, and their works behind the scenes, that I always honour their uniform, and feel I v/ould be neglecting my duty if I did not speak in their support at this time, when

they are being cruelly misjudged and ill-spoken of. It is said that to know a person, one needs to live with him. I have “lived with” the Salvation Army in Auckland, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane, and am qualified to state that only those with a working knowledge can tell of the endless routine of help especially to those in trouble and distress, and the tireless lives of selfdenial and self-sacrifice of their officers, who are in it, not for what they can get, but for what they can give. One man said, “The Salvation Army does more practical good than all the churches put together.” The Salvation Army used to have the slogan, “From the guttermost to the uttermost,” and it is a fact, that they have lifted fallen and degraded men and women to fill honourable and even prominent positions in the community. They begin where the churches leave off, or train, and equip men and women for later church work. The Salvation Army begins with the babies, then children’s homes, both boys and girls, and those who have visited them will know how happy and contented, and well-cared for they are. Then follows the home for unfortunate girls, maternity homes, inebriates’ homes, homes for aged men and women, and many other activities. They care for all ages, from the cradle to the grace, to say nothing of their immediate response in times of emergency such as the Great War, influenza epidemic of 1918, Murchison * and Napier earthquakes, etc. Then what' of their prison gate work? Those who know of Adjutant Gordon’s splendid work for prisoners in Auckland can testify to the wonderful help she has been to thousands, and she is respected among the legal profession for her noble work. The Salvation Army officers would meet a prisoner at the gate of the gaol on his release, take him (or her) home, give him food, shelter and clothes, help him to find work, and start him out again with a feeling of hope, and confidence in himself, and the knowledge that someone cares if he sinks or swims.

A good deal has been made of the commercial aspect of the organisation. Could any person of business perspicacity suggest that such a wholesale helping-hand undertaking, could be canoed on without funds? The fact that, the movement is patronised by the King and members of the Royal Family, and has the Vice-Regal patronage of our Governor-General, Lord Galway, and his partner, Lady Galway, is sufficient to give all Salvationists a sense of pride that they belong to such a noble cause. God bless and prosper the work of the Salvation Army.—l am, etc., (Mrs) M. E. HUNTER. Richmond, 19th June.