WORK OF SALVATION ARMY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 14

WORK OF SALVATION ARMY.

1929 YEAR BOOK. / MOMENTOUS' EVENTS/. ‘ (From Oxtr Own Correspondent. ) • : LONDON, January 3; The yepy 1929 promises to be a, moment tos date-in the Salvation Army’s history. Its High-Council, which'has never met before, is now -assembling from far - and near to decide whethgr to remove the kader of the Army,' General B ram well Booth, fromoffice because of his continued inability through illness to fulfil his duties.

. !f such a step is taken the High Council will then elect his that must consider whether- the . present method of succession to the generalship shall be changed. The coming .year will be notable also ns the .centenary ydhr of the birth of the Army’s founder. General William Booth, and of his wife; a twofold centenary, which the Army has, arranged' to celebrate in every country, in which it works.. , Consequently the Salvation Army, Year Book, for , 1929, which now makes its appearance, is'of especial interest as a record of past progress and of the immense scale of the Salvation Artoy’s operations , at‘ this important, moment.

In a section .which .deals, with' . the finance of ' the, Salvation Army it is ■ explained that, by a Deed Will enrolled in Chancery in 1878, the Genera! for the time being is constituted the trustee of all Army funds and property, necessary arrangements being made for 'securing it to the purposes for which it has- been acquired when, at his death, it shall have passed to the hands of his successor. • “ The founder and the present General,” it is added, “have,' ever since the early days of strife, and poverty, recognised the importance of keeping accounts; All moneys received 1 at the various head-' quarters are carefully dealt with, a receipt being issued for every amount paid in,, and all transactions being recorded bv competent,, trustworthy accountants; ii accordance with a complete and highly approved system. , Army accounts - are, without exception, subject, to a rigid periodical examination by officers . appointed for the purpose. The accounts o- international headquarters are audited by a firm, of first-class accountants.” IMPRESSIVE STATISTICS.

In the lifetime of its founder, between its inception as the East Lohidon Revival Society in 1865 and General; Booth’s death in 1912, the Salvation Army had been set up in 58 countries, its message had been spoken in 34 languages, the number of its corps aud outposts’.had. grown to- 9415, and the number of its commissioned officers to 15,988.. During the leadership of General ' Bramwell Booth the rate of progress, measured in statistics, has been even greater. ■ Between 1912 and 1928 the Army has .been established in 25 more countries, and its message is now spoken in 33 more languages. The Army’s, corps and outposts now number 15,517, and its whole-time servants have increased to 33,637. Between 1912 and to-day ■ the social institutions and agencies which it conducts have increased from 1142 to 1533. One of the most-impressive indications of the Army’s strength is the number, of Ifs unpaid workers—the men and women whodevote the time they can spare from earntheir living to its evangelical and social work. Chief among these are the local officers, who carry on the affairs of the branches under a regular officer, and the bandsmen. When William Booth died there were 55,658 local officers and nearly 26,000 bandsmen. To-day the local officers number 105,034, and the bandsmen nearly 43,000. Through' the Army's migration' and settlement department , about 38,000 people.have been settled in the. dominions since, 192 Q, .. 'Altogether the department has settled some 200,000 persons during ttj'2s years of its existence, and it is claimed that the failures amount to less than 1 per cent. The Army , specialises in training boys from 14 to 19 years of age in elementary aud since the inception of this work in 1923 more than 4000 boys have been happily settled overseas. In the early days of the migration and settlement department most of the settlers went to .Canada, ■ but in. later years the tendency has been towards Australia and New Zealand.