The Church Army.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 13, 1 July 1918, Page 99

The Church Army.

T^a^^.IT.IS.DQTO AT, THE,:;'■•""" - ; '■•""" 'mmiiY

AN UNSOLICITED TESTIMONY.

The. .following. letter,; written by a Taranaki boy to His parents, (lie is an adherent of the Presbyterian .Church), shows how much the comforts provided by the Church Army Huts are appreciated by the troops at the front...

Somewhere m France, March 31st, 1918,

My Dear Dad,— Just, a few lines to let you lpow that I am going strong. Bert Syines gave me. some P — :

papers the other day, some, of the late ones, arid they were very good. There is one thing that<l did /: no.t like, and that was a meeting of the Patriotic League, m a November edition of the P — — -, where there had been an appeal for the Church Army Funds to help them with the work they are carrying on at the front. Now, Dad, Mr H. went to the meeting to explain things, and a member of the League said he had not heard of such a thing as the Church Army, and all the boys he had asked said they knew nothing about it. Well perhaps some of them didn't. know anything, but I can tell you here, and you can publish; the letter if you like : the Church Army is doing quite as much as the V.M.C.A. or the Salvation Army.

I am nearly fifteen, miles behind the line,, and that close that Fritz' is shelling ,H-^— out of the place night and day; well, the C.A. have, a large hut here on which they have a notice, ' ' Open to all troops of His Majesty, 's Forces." .

In this hut they supply writing paper and envelopes, as much as you wank There is nearly every newspaper that is obtainable placed on a table at the disposal of the troops to read. There are games of every description^ and the Church of England Padres are excellent chaps among the troops, as they manage sports and games, and give lectures, and last, but not least, there is a good pint of tea and biscuits for every man who wants it every night/ ■'■'

Well, Dad; -I can tell you I was annoyed.to see where at the meeting the Church ; : Army 's request . had been turned down. They:. do '■ as much for the! troops as the pother Institutes. The : tea .and -biscuits ; are all !free, whereas you; have, to pay for them. at the other places. .

The : other .day the 3rd Wellington Band came down here^ and last night they played a .programme, and, of

course^ we wejjg. all ilistjeningi:;, :Theyr played, spine, good-TTr^'

Here-; I wiU; close;, with : Jove;..-.i and i; hope ..that ; ieveryone is. m . ; excejlenfe: . health.r-rFrom -your; son,,, ■ '_■-. W..--F.VN- — •.

At .the recent. ; session, of the : Diocesan Synod of Duhedin ; a motion ; ; was ; proposed setting. out the claims :of the.: Church . Army to the support of Churchmen. The; Yen.. Archdeacon .. Richards announced that the; PatrioticAssociation refused: any assistance; it lending ,\ their generous, assistance to. the' Church Army as well as to other similar institutions., The Yen. ; the< Dean .of Dunedin. (Dr. . Fitchett) iSaid.the Dunedin Patriotic Association refused any assistance it. was^. really; an atrocity •. unintelligible., that Churchmen should neglect itheir ; own agency arid support; something , which , did. not belong to' them. : It was entirely a discredit to them and ought' to bring the blush to their: : cheeks that' they were not supporting their : Church Army. The • C. A. was an. undenominational agency m the truest sense of the word m that its benefits: were open to all alike irrespective of creed. Mr L. D. Ritchie said that the only weak point about the Church Army was its neglect to advertisewhereas the V.M.C.A. was boomed by the greatest advertising people on earth, the United States. The V.M.C.A. was doing good work,, but the C.A. was doing quite equally good work. The Yen. Archdeacon Russell said he had recently met two Chaplains, Canon P. T. Williams and Chaplain Powell, on leave m New Zealand for a few weeks. In view of the claims of the V.M.C. A., what they had told him had astonished him and others that heard it, viz., that their experience both m Egypt and m France was that m Church Army Huts the men could get refreshments absolutely free and that m their experience the men had to pay for them m other huts.- The Church Army huts^ were the only huts m which men could be assured of a spiritual influence, as well as a social influence. It ; had been said that the V.M.C.A. should be called the V..MB.A:— the Young Men 's Business' Association-^-because it was a great business concern for the benefit of the soldiers, but from a < religious point of view 1 it was the Church Army that was meeting a very urgent need! The speaker/ who -said this, continued that he was heart; and soul with the' Y!M.C;A., of which he had been a member for many yearsV He believed there was ample room for both institutions, but he also believed that, if it camei to a conflict'

as to which •body, deserved, the support of Churchmen most; it' should be the Church Army every time. The reason,, why the Church- Army- work was -not. so well known m New Zear land^i was that the "different ■ organisa-? tions were allotted their . sectors by the Military authorities^ . and it happened that* the sectors allotted at the: first : t6 the Church; Army did not include that; occupied by the New Zealanders, but there were n0w 4,4 Church Army 4uts. m the New Zealand ; lines and we should soon hear about their work from the men at the front.

We would add to the above remarks ■. that. we have been told by several returned soldiers that the men at the front; apply, the term M. Y.M.C.A. Jiut^V to any recreation hut without distinction, Presbyterian huts, Salvation Army huts, > Church . Army. huts.. rare all known' as "YM.C.A."; this i" is no doubt due to the V.M.C.A. work being so largely and;conspicuously-adver-tised that the men give that organisation the credit; of . everything. ... : The Church Army lost considerably .over 100 huts m the recent 'German . acU vance. A great many of : them, i 5,7, were very near or m the. front lines, As each hut costs. £500 and the contents- were lost as well, this means a loss of £50,000, and; it means much more to the boys because they cannot; be replaced; immediately,- and meanwhile "the boys . are deprived of the comforts and recreation , which they have learned to use ; and valuer so much, ;

One branch of the: C.A. work. is frequently forgotten because, it has necessarily, tp be ; carried -on m silence — that is. ; the naval branch. • The . C.A. (and as. far as : we . can ; . discover, the; C.A. alone) .has- huts for the Navy and for mine-sweepers at the lonely secret bases of the, fleet m Scotland— where no human habitations are withi nreach— the sailor on shore has. ab-, solutejy nowhere to go : except to the C.A. hut, unrivalled, -invaluable ; ;and indispensable:; New Zealand has many sailors m the fleet, and especially m New Zealand, mine-sweepers that were once trawlers and , coastal • boats here. We have one, 'ff The Knoxl? Naval. hut, provided by :Mrs; JVEathews, but New Zealand should: do more than/ that for our gallant sailors, ;>