BOYS sent to live in Salvation Army homes were subjected to brutal sexual abuse and daily rituals of forced labour and sadistic punishment - from being locked in cages for days to eating their own vomit.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday turned its attention to a string of shocking cases of abuse at four of the organisation's boys' homes from the late 1950s until the late 1970s.

One Salvation Army captain, Lawrence Wilson, ­described by his own organisation as the "most serious offender" in the eastern states, had 17 victims level sexual abuse allegations against him, including that he sent boys to other adults' homes for further exploitation.

Counsel assisting the commission Simeon Beckett said the evidence of abuse would be "at the severe end" of the many disturbing cases put before the inquiry over the past five months.

A total of 157 claims relating to child sexual abuse within the Salvation Army in NSW and Queensland have so far been received; 133 of which ­resulted in apologies and payouts of up to $100,000.

Mr Beckett said five Salvation Army officers including Wilson, who died in 2008, would come under scrutiny, although other workers had also been accused of serious abuse.

He said the physical abuse the boys suffered would be "shocking to many". The hearings continue today.