population, is hungering for the offerings of the Salvation Army, Hamilton Rotarians were told yesterday.

Major David Hiscock, territorial and youth secretary for Canada and Bermuda, described the plight of the Russians he saw during a seven-week stay in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"We had opportunity to meet with people in their homes, factories, schools and hospitals and they made it abundantly clear there is a deep quest for God,'' he said. "It is one of the greatest challenges in the history of the Salvation Army.'' Major Hiscock said the Salvation Army only returned to the independent republic last July after it was forced out of the country during the revolution.

"We tried to live as close as possible to the Russian people,'' he said as he told of his visit which began in January. "It gave us a complete new appreciation for life and the abundance that we enjoy today in this room.'' Major Hiscock said during their stay, he and his wife saw the first increase of bread and meat prices in the republic this century.

"Food shortages have increased since the break-up of the former Union of Soviet Socialists Republic (USSR),'' he said. "The whole food system is pretty well controlled by the criminal element.'' He said health care as we know it is only accessible to the population's wealthy, likening a stay in a hospital to a "death sentence''.

"We visited 15-16 hospitals during our stay and it was the most moving, heart wrenching experience. They are broken down buildings filled with broken down people.

"There are rusted cots stretching from end to end side by side with absolutely no medicine whatsoever.'' Major Hiscock said 65 percent of all children under the age of 14 suffer from respiratory illnesses; one in four are born with some medical defect attributed to pollution and the abuse of alcohol through the generations which is now showing up.

"Children become victims in many ways of an inadequate public education system.'' Doctors and teachers fall at the lower end of the pay scale, the Salvation Army worker said, receiving $8 and $7 per month respectively.

"Of course there is medical care if you have money,'' he said. "But that only applies to 15 percent of the society.'' Major Hiscock also listed housing as a "very acute problem''. He said it is not uncommon to find a mother, father and child housed in a 12X14 one-room apartment.

"It's very likely they will live and die in that apartment,'' he said.

"There are no alternatives. That is the kind of life that the majority of Russians are involved in.'' He described family life as "non-existent'', with children often discarded and forced to survive by stealing, buying and selling goods.

"Today (we) are part of that voluntary system around the world who want to reach out and help,'' he said.

Major Hiscock visits the Island annually to assess the local unit's youth programme.