VALUED WORK DONE BY SALVATION ARMY IN WAR-TORN EUROPE

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 February 1949, Page 4

VALUED WORK DONE BY SALVATION ARMY IN WAR-TORN EUROPE

Commissioner Hugh Sladen, of the Salvation Army, who was guest speaker at the Wanganui Rotaiy Club yesterday, said that the Salvation Army, working under the supervision of the Council of British Relief Societies, co-ordinated the operations of the organisations engaged in relief work in Europe, such as the Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., and Boy Scouts. He told Rotarians that Salvation Army workers in invaded countries proved of great assistance when the war ended. The work in Europe included the restoration of child evacuees to their parents in invaded countries, as a result of which thousands of displaced children had been returned to the care of relatives. The Salvation Army also had charge of transit camns in which refugees were accommodated until they were able to be sent to other parts of the world. From one camp alone 2500 persons of 35 nationalities, had been able to return to their native land. Other humanitarian movements in

which the relief organisations were engaged were the provision of supplementary foods for children in Eutope. the advancement of the welfare of aged persons in bombed areas, the direction of youth clubs in the British zone in Germany, and the provision and maintenance of convalescent homes for children,

Commissioner Sladen said that he and his wife were on a goodwill tour of the world and was taking the opportunity of expressing thanks to the people of those countries, such as New

Zealand, which had made conrtibutions of food and clothing to Great Britain and the peoples of Europe. Mrs. Sladen is a grand-daughter -ot Evangeline Booth. She was awarded the White Rose of the Salvation Army of England for her work in that country in 1939 and 1940. Prior to th*' present tour. Commissioner Sladen was in charge of the Public Relations Bureau in London He was admitted in 1931 to the Freedom of the City of London.