The Padre's Hour

In the British Army an experiment was bearing fruit. Once a week the chaplain was given the opportunity of speaking to the men of his own denomination on a religious subject in the ‘King's time’, that is inside the daily training syllabus. The scheme had been thought out carefully and many very helpful pamphlets had been written. The chaplain never spoke to more than forty or

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fifty men at the same time so that a good discussion could follow the talk. In the 2nd NZEF some chaplains, with the permission of the commanding officer of their units, had given occasional lectures, but it was not till the very end of the war that the Padre's Hour found its official place in the life of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.