INDICTMENT OF BUSINESS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16150, 2 March 1918, Page 4

INDICTMENT OF BUSINESS.

CLERGYMAN" SPEAKS OCT

EARLY t-LOSING PROFITS,

A p!e;i for the recognition of Christian principles in business was made by the llcv. A. M. Niblock in a Lenten address in tho Chamber of Commerce, Auckland, on "Wednesday (says the••'Star').r r '). i Tho world, - ho said, was dominated by the war spirit, and what spirit would gain the ascendancy after war could not yet be known. .Much had been wrnten 01 tho .development ot trade, especially in. view ot' tiio gi eater cuiciency :uut productive power ot britain. One book, "iiimpiro or i'it'lipiVj ' preached the gospel of domination oi tlio world's trade, and declared that the x>eoi>le «i the British limpjro had it in their powor to rule fi)t> earth in this respect. The book ivas a clever one, but the spirit ot Clarist was not in it. It way idle to pretend, said the speaker, that business to-day, in either England or New Zealand, wa.s swayed by Christian principles. lie spoko from experience, for lie had been engaged in business for some years, ancl had seen much of the gambling that went on upon the Liverpool Cotton Exchange, the trickery and the numberless discreditable devices with which it abounded. He had learned that it was nuite. possible to deal in goods that had no existence at all. He had aleo been in tho office of a- China, merchant, and had seen in operation some of those trade methods which, wljilo not contra 17 to certain standards of business morality, were abhorrent to the spirit of Christ.

He had learned since his arrival in New Zealand, said the speaker, that similar abuses-were not unknown here. He hnd had evidence that a certain firm had subscribed several thousand pounds to the oarly closing campaign fund beeaufiOj as one of its members declared, oarly closing would divert money from the pockets of the "trade" to its own pockets. Ho knew that numbers of girls had been driven upon the streets of this city because employers would not pay sufficient wages. There wore many more things tliat he could say if he would. People spoke of the tyranny of German trade aftor the war, but the tyranny of business greed, selfishness, and cruelty, which before the war had iground down millions in Britain, was capable even yet of making the world a hell instead of a Garden of Eden. The man in the street looked to professing Christians for a manifestation of Christ, but was disappointed, for lie found that thov worshipped a vague, mystical, and remote Christ. The carrying of Christ's spirit into everyday life meant sacrifice, and it was sacrifice for great ideals that business and business men greatly needed.