COUNCIL OF CHURCHES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 463, 23 March 1909, Page 4

COUNCIL OF CHURCHES.

1 ANNUAL MEETING. SUNDAY CONCERTS AND GAMING ACT. INVITATION TO DR. W. CHAPMAN. Fourteen members attended the annual meeting of tho Council of Evangelical Churches Inst evening. Tho president (tho Rov. W. J. Williams) was in tho chair. The Annual Report. Tho report stated that last year's complaint of sparse attendances had to bo repeated with emphasis. It had been suggostod that non-attendanco was not really duo to lack of interest, but to tho fact that delegates were busy men, and had no timo to spare for ordinary meetings when no special business was on hand, Tho year had not seen a great amount of work done, though tho council had not been unmindful of its trust, and as occasion had offered had sought to further tho interests of righteousness and truth in tho city._ A deputation which waited on Sir Joseph Ward had received from him a promise that definite steps should be taken to limit tho numbor of race days in tho vicinity of any town. So far tho Government had not fulfilled this promise. They might look for legislation on the subject in tho coming session. Representations made to tho City Council in regard to billiard saloons and Sunday concerts had been entirely ignored. Billiard saloons wcro granted an oxtension of hours, and Sunday concerts flourished under tho smile of tho civic authorities. Tho committee regretted that it had been forced to tho conclusion that tho Mayor and a majority of tho present council wcro thus hostilo to what, in tho opinion of tho committee, wore tho highest and best interests of tho community. Tho oommitteo had been in communication with Archbishop Redwood and Bishop Wallis, who wcro both entirely with them in tho contention that tho Town Hall ought not to bo lot for purposes of private gain by means of Sunday concorts. It was to bo hoi)cd that tho Christian part of the community would make its iniluenco so felt at tho forthcoming eleo cion of Mayor and councillors as to secure at least this much regard for the Lord's Day. Tho largest meeting of tho year was ono addressed by Mr. D. M'Laren, M.P., as ro presonting tho Labour unions, 011 "What the Labour Party Expects from tho Churches." A number of questions wcro answerod aftoi tho address, hut it was to bo regretted that apparently littlo practical good resulted from the meeting. In conclusion, tho committee oxprossod its conviction that tho council had fully justified its existence. It had done useful work in tho past, which 110 individual ; church could have-accomplished. A moral vigilance committee was a real need in tho f community. It was eminently desirable that there should bo a representative body able to speak with authority in tho namo of tho united churches, and it was earnestly to bo hoped that all tho churches concerned would appoint delegates prepared to take a vital interest in the council's doings, so that its futuro operations might bo oven moro successful than its past. Discussion on Report. \ 1 Sir. A. Hoby moved tlio adoption of tho report The Rev. C. Porter sccondod the motion. The presidont expressed his groat satisfaction that a . local paper had taken up tho working of tho Gaming Act in a very thoroughgoing way. Ho hoped that something would be done to sheet home to tho Prime Minister and the Legislature tho defects of tho law. With regard to Sunday concerts, it was an amazing thing that a council or supposed gentlemen had not deigned to reply to the influential deputation that had waited on them. , Tho Rev. J. J. North thought that this was a rather grave moment in tho crusado of purity and righteousness. Sunday con- | certs and tho defects in tho Gaming Act were very serious matters. ] Tho report was adopted unanimously. The treasurer's report showed virtually a debit balance. Tho report was adopted. Officers and Thanks. 1 Tho following officers wcro. elected for the ensuing year: —President, Mr. J. G. W. Aitken; vice-president, 1 • 'tlio Rev. J. Gibson Smith; secretary, tho Rev. A. Dewdncy (re« olected); treasurer, Mr. 11. _ C. Harding; committee, llovs. W. J. Williams, Dr. Gibb, J. J. North, J. Dawson, and T. Fee, Messrs. A. Hoby and H. N. Holmes. A motion was adopted thanking Mr. W. T. Glasgow, the retiring treasurer, for his services to tho council sinco its inception, and wishing him a happy' trip to England. Thanks were also accorded to the Rov. A. Dewdney, secretary. The Rev. A. Dewdney moved that tho bylaw relating to tho holding of monthly meetings bo rescinded, and that the executive ho instructed to call delegates together as often as occasion demanded. The president said that the council was really an emergency committee, and emergencies refused to crop up once a month. Tho motion was unanimously approved. Pony Racing Condemned. The Rev. J. J. North moved, "That tho council reiterates its protest _ against .that very gravo defect ill tlio Gaming Act, viz., the absenco of any restriction on tlio possible number of race days in the vicinity of tho different centres of population. Tho council points out that this omission has already given Wellington twenty-four days of extra racing in the year, and that the racing, moreover, is of the most undesirable typo, as tlio papers constantly report. Tlio council desires to call tho Government's attention to the ovil which an over-raced community is suffering from by tho introduction of a now and senseless type of racing, a typo from which tho country has hitherto been free, and which in Australia is notorious for crooked practice. The council urges the Goveminent to legislate in tho direction of restricting tho race days." Mr. North spoko briefly in support of his motion, which was' adopted without dissent. Sunday Concerts. Tlio Rev. Mr. Williams said that a resolution had been prepared by representatives of tho various churches, asking tho City CouucU to prohibit Sunday entertainments in linlip under their control «xcept for charitable objects. The'following motions, put forward by tho Rov. A. Dewdney, were unanimously adopted: "That this meeting of tho Council of till Evangelical Churches expresses regret chat tho City Council has not given any reply to tho request of tho deputation which waited upon it some weeks ago. It further declare; its profound conviction that tho City Council should refuse to sanction the holding of concerts 011 Sunday, excepting for purely charitable purposes." "That a circular be sont to every candidate for tho office of Mayor and city councillor embodying the resolution arrived at hj tho representative coinmitteo asking for an expression of tho opinion of the candidates 011 the matter, and that a special committed bo appointed to givo effect to this resolution and take such other steps as may bo neeessary." Tho following wcro appointed as tlio com* mitteoßevs. A. Dewdney mid J.J. North, Messrs. J. G. W. Aitken and 11. N. Holmes. Invitation to Dr. Chapman. A lottcr, inviting to the Dominiou tho Rev. Dr. Wilbur Chapman, who is about to conduct .111 Australian mission with Mr. 0. Aloxandcr, was signed by those present. Tho letter stated, inter alia:—"We, tho undersigned ministers and laymen of tho evangelical churches of Wellington, unite in expressing our hearty and urgent desiro that four contemplated mission in these regions should include New Zealand as well as Australia. The need of a strenuous evangelistic campaign in tho centres of papulation in tlifl Dominion is as great as in any city of the Commonwealth. This community is moralised as highly perhaps as any civilised people in tlio world, yet it is intensely secularised. God, eternity, tlio higher tilings of tho soul arc matters of absolute indifference to multitudes of our people. Therefore, wo ask you to come to New Zealand. Most of our peopln aro under tlio impression that you have already promised to come. For the sake of our great need and of your own word, wo earnestly hope you will include at least the four chief ccntres of tho Dominion in your coming mission."