WAR WIDOWS

Otago Witness, Issue 3247, 7 June 1916, Page 3

WAR WIDOWS

A SALVATION ARMY SCHEME. j Provision for the orphans of soldiers docs not mark the limit of Salvation Army endeavour in regard to those left destitute by . tho war. , , , From the start of tho war there has been manifest in this country a laudable desire that her brave defenders, their womcnioU, and children should be adequately provided for under all contingencies. This sentiment is the more gratifying because in the sanguinary struggles of other days much stiiterina. misery, and loss has, for one reason or another, gone unrelieved. Ihe public rightly feels that it does not wish to see a repetition of this kind of thing. Indeed, probablv no one would bo found to-day who would not join in ihe cry': "How best can the victims of this widespread, cruel, and devastating strife bo helped?" The widows and their helpless children arc probably the most pathetic- sufferers ot all and their present distress and iuture wcll-behi"- have to bo taken into account. Tho nation has before it no more appealing problem, and its solution is heavily freighted with consequences for tho wnoio British Empire, be its responsibilities recognised never so keenly. Slate machinery must always be moro or less cumbersomo, slow-moving, expensive, and lacking in tho essential of a svmpathetic personal touch, and so General Booth, with expert advice, has formulated a scheme to provide for the transference of widows with their families from tho British Isles to the King's dominions overseas by utilising the organisation which the Salvation Army has developed in connection with the Darkest England scheme in co-operation with the respective Governments at Homo and abroad. The Salvation Army Emigration Department is tho largest emigration agency m tho British Empire, and has, in tho courso of 12 years, directed the transference of nearly 90,000 British peooio to the oversea dominions with less than 1 per cent, of failures over all. . . ... In tho case of war widows and their children who may be sent, it is stated that widows would only bo sent to towns or districts where arrangements could bo made for their welcome by some responsible person authorised by ihe Salvation .Army, -who would see them comfortably initiated in their new homes and guide and assist them until they were established. The Army would aland by every case for which it assumed responsibility for four years. Nonsuccess is contemplated as a very remote and exceptional contingency, but the Army would take back to the place from which she emigrated any widow who proved a failure. In tho event of the death of a widow, the care of the children would bocome at once the business of the Army local representative. Reports regarding- the nro-ip-ress of tho families emigrated would be furnished to the Public Trustee at least ono a year for four years. - This scheme is not being advanced as an experiment by any means. The machinery for dealing with it has been in operation for years, and is in full working order. In carrying out the scheme tho Salvation Army would work on approved lines, taking fullest advantages of existing facilities, co-operat in<r with Governments and other authorities, and utilising its own machinoryto tho maximum capacity, while imparting into all its enterprises that sympathetic personal touch which is the hall mark of all interested service. _ The question of sex inequality in England will be much intensified by the war. The presence, too, of Sir Rider Haggard in these southern* islands reminds us all that lie carefully inspected the Salvation Army's emigration machinery at Homo and abroad, and heartily commended it in his official report Thus it is believed that the transference will be effected under tho best of conditions, and all humanly speaking that is nossible will bo done at this end _to enable the readjustment to take place without any serious dislocation.