OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

White Ribbon, Volume 2, Issue 22, 1 April 1897, Page 9

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Rotorua, March 22nd, 1897. Dear Madam,—l have the honour to acknowledge (on behalf of the 200 Maori women of Rotorua who have joined your Blue Ribbon Union, or better known as the New' Zealand Women’s Christian Temperance Union) having seen your kindly greetings to them and good wishes for the younger women, and, in reply, am instructed to say—Yes, we pray God that in His infinite mercy He may strengthen us in this cause, as without Him wc can do

nothing. Furthermore, lam desired to say that as Mrs Ballantyne, of Christchurch, Treasurer of the Union, has received and accepted our six- ! pences as capitation fees, according to the rules laid down by your Union, we would be glad to know why we were left out of your last Convention, or why we were not required to appoint delegates to the Convention. An early answer will suffice us. 1 am, etc., J. Foley, Licensed Interpreter, Sec. to Rotorua W.C.T U. For the Union. To Mrs Schnackenberg, President, Mt. Albert, Auckland. Auckland, April 2nd, 1897. To My Maori Sisters at Rotorua. Dear Friends. —Your lettter has just come to me. lam very sorry that none of you were asked to attend the Convention, as I am sure all who were there would have been very glad to have heard all you could tell of the growth of temperance work among your people. When the day of meeting was arranged we ought to have sent word to Mrs Hewitt, but I did not know where she was at the time, and the Secretary could not find her address. You must believe that we wished to have you with us. I hope that the mistake will not occur again, but that we shall see some of your meml>ers in Napier next February. —Yours in lemperance work, Mrs A. J. Schnackenbf.bg. Castile, N.Y , Feb. 12, 1897. Dear Mrs Schnackenberg, You will remember that some years ago our dear Mrs Barney was urged by the officers of the World’s W.C.T.U. to make a trip around the world, in the interest of prison reform and the securing of police matrons in all police stations, for the reason that it is not right for women to be arrested, tried, judged, sentenced, and controlled in prison solely hymen. But Mrs Barney has been so especially lieloved by Eng lish women that she has passed most ot her time in these last years in either Great Britain or Canada. She has been three times to England by invitation of the 8.W.T.A., has always had very many more invitations than she could accept, and whenever she will go bacK again 44 the door is open and the welcome warm.”

The same is uueof Canada, where the name of Susa a Barney is. a household word as truly as it is in the United States. Mrs Barney is a daughter of a Massachusetts physician, and was brought up in a home of intelligence and devotion. When but thirteen years of age, she was a regular contributor to several popular journals, but her early desire was for the work ol foreign missions. The strong opposition of friends prevented the fulfilment of this purpose and in 1854 she was married to Josiah K. Barney, of Providence, R. 1., w’here her home has since been, with the exception of a few'years on the Pacific Coast. Baptized into the spirit of gospel temperance work by the Crusade, Mrs Barney has from the very first been one of the most able leaders. She was for years the President of Rhode Island when it used to be said 44 there was not a hamlet in the State that was not planted out to the local W.C.T.U.” I think no State has ever had so many local Unions in proportion to the population as Rhode Island under her leadership. Not only within our own borders but by social reformers and especially in prisons, has Mrs Barney been honoured and loved, so that now, when she is at last able to take up the work and to invest a year in a trip around the world, we can but rejoice that she will be able to spend a few months in your beautiful land.

She will sail from San Francisco about the Ist of April, stopping at the Hawaiian Islands, and will let you know' in good season of her coming. We bear the expenses of her voyage out, and we feel sure that every local union that invited her will more than “get its money back,” and besides this very practical return, will secure an added influence in membership, in the good will of the people and their more thorough education as to what our society means, so that it will be a benediction to every one who has the pleasure of her work. Mrs Barney wil 1 stop in New f Zealand and hopes to reach Sydney in May. She will write you details. Her husband and sens, the latter l>eing married and 44 settled in life,” have given her their Got! speed foi this trip, which she has so long desired to make. They all live in Providence, R. 1., and are highly respected citizens. Mrs Barney is World’s and National Superintendent of Prison, Police, and Almshouse work. She is a most persuasive speaker, and her gentle nnuistra*

tions have won for her the title of the “ Prisoners’ Friend.” I do not wish to close my letter with so faint an expression as the hope that pood will come from the long evangelistic jouruey of this saintly woman, tor I as well know that nothing hut good and blessing can come as the result of the visit of out comrade. With a thousand blessings upon you and your dear associates, and hoping to see a goodly contingent at the World’s Convention in Toronto next October, 1 am, with many prayers and abiding affection, Your loyal Comrade. Francis E. Willard. ♦