Stirring Story of Relief in the North Told by Salvation Army Territorial Commissioner It-Commissioner W. MeKenzie, Territorial Commander for North China of the Salvation Army, has from Peking and is staying at The Red Shield, 58 Carter Road.
"Fighting Maca "dinky-di Aussie"—served throughout the Great' War asa chaplain to the Australian Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli and on the Western Front, He is said to be one of the very fow padres respected and loved by the "undisciplined" Anzacs, many of whom still swear by him. ' A tall, grey-haired, and slightly bald gentleman with a fine military bear-{hg, Commissioner McKenzie was on his' way home from the National Congress of the Salvation Army in London in 1914, which he attended as Australian delegate, when the Great War broke out. Tt was on the high seas that he wrote out plication, and he had only home for four days when instructed to join up with the Ist Brigade as chaplain. He went over with the First Expeditionary Force in 1914 to Egypt and was with the Anzacs on the peninsula "from the landing to the evacuation of Gallipoli. "It was at Gallipoli, Lone Pino Ridge to be exact, that he performed many gallant acts which won for him the Military Cross, the decoration bel conferred upon him by H. M. the King himself in Buckingham Palace, After that, he served on the Western Front and was with the Australian troops in the front ines in many major engagements, Several times he was mentioned in despatches, After the war, he returned to) Australia and, last April, he came to China to succeed the late Commissioner Pearce, in directing the work of the Salvation Army, which was being carried on by 125 foreign workers and more than 160 Chines men and women, The Futility of Wae Commissioner MeKenzie isn Scot by birth who went with his parents to Australia in 1884, and settled th the sugarsgrowing and cattle raising district of Bundaberg. He Jinked up with the Salvation Army as an officer five years later, and was engaged both in field divisional and editorial work, being for a long time editor of the Australian and Now Zealand "War Cry." His I Position in Australia was scerctary, in which position he gaperintended some 000 field officers.
Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and West Australia.
Questioned regarding his war' service by a representative of the *North-China Daily News," Thursday afternoon, Commissioner MeKenzie was extremely modest and said, "My experiences of war drives me to the opinion that war is futile in settling disputes, as really settles nothing. I is destroyer human prolific of and brings about economic disaster, well a8 great sorrow, misery and destitution to. multitudes of people. It is far better to get round a conference table and talk matters over and settle disputes in that way.
"The Salvation Army, by' virtue of its understanding and beneficial Service for men at the front, at the training camps and in the hospitals, came out of the war with an en-chanced' name, through its. various Activities and service, both temporal and spiritual, and this, indeed, is the underlying principle of all our operations that' are manifold and diverse in their widespread world sweep. We are now at work in 84 Sifferent countries and colonies. and the Gospel message is proclaimed by Salvation Army oftcers in 62] different languages, dealing with the needs of broken humanity from the new-born babe in cur maternity hospitals to the ripe old aged in ovr eventide homes for both men and 4 Porridge for the Poor The work of the Salvation Army in China began in 1916, and at the present time 16 different nations are! represented among its foreign workers. At the present moment, the Commissioner said, "in Peking, where we have established six por ridge kitchens since last November, we have been feeding on the average 6,000 people a day. "At Tientsin, where we have two porridge kitchens, one for the Band coolies and another in the poorest district of the Chinese city for destitutes, we feed on the average 2,000 a day. We distribute clothes and give shelter to hundreds of poor people each night. Recently, we were requested to undertake the feeding of the people of Chochow, the city taken by the Shansi troops and besieged for! 86 days by the Ankuochun before surrender. We immediately established kitchens there to feed the! people. The money for Chochow has been provided by the International Famine Relief Committee through Dr, J. C, Ferguson, who asked us to undertake the work. A batch of Salvation Army officers and sistant were despatched to the ion. of the people was distressing in the extreme. This work! will be extended to the surrounding tricts, the people of which are most destitute, girls' home in Peking and most of the girls are brought there from the famine districts to Prevent their falling into evil hands, 'They are fed, clothed and educated, and given a' domestic training as! well as taught some useful accom. pushments with the needle. We! have done quite a bit of relief work! for the stricken districts of the rear indeed, and there is an excellent opportunity for unlimited work by the Salvation Army and other Christian organizations, Work by the Yangtze fork in Shanghai and along the' Yangtze Valley should have been started before, but the unsettled conditions prevented us, When stable conditions are resumed, the work will begin, General Booth having given a promise to this effect. The Salvation Army has not yet started work in the south. It had been decided to begin but this also had to be cancelled, or at, least!
stoned. The date for resumption not yet been fixed, I understand that a Chinese resident of Melbourne has. promised to contribbuto 300 to start the work and to ive it further support as it goes: along. Another wealthy Chinese in Peking has already "contributed handsomely towards our relief work and is trying to interest his inluential friends, ith reference to Chinese leadership, wa have an officer who is very rich in promise and from whom we expect great things. When the foreigners withdrew he stepped into the breach and carried on magnificently. He was the first Chinese staff officer to be promoted since the Salvation Army started operations in China. He is only a young man and has gained consi ably in experience and developed marvelously, He is a splendid translator and a namber of his Dooks are on the market. He is editor also of the Chinese "War Cry" and. assistant secretary for foreign field affairs of the Sal Army in China, Mr. Yuan is the rst Chinese officer to rank as a staff captain."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.