THE SYNOD AND SIR ROBERT STOUT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 562, 17 July 1909, Page 10

THE SYNOD AND SIR ROBERT STOUT.

', Sir,—-The . Rev. Mr.; Harper was j pleased yesterday, -at.'.tho Anglican Synod, to','pass disparaging remarks on the Chief Justice of this Doininionj Sir Robert. Stout,!: and .those remarks were (according to tho report in a contemporary), greeted with applause by his listeners.-. Mr. Harper said that .-a certain public statement made by Sir Robert Stout recently (in ;England was: "quite extraordinary, absolutely unprovable, and entirely reprehensible in every. way." Tho statement so characterised, was made in refutation of a public statement made iin England Somo months before by Bishop Neligan, of Auckland, to' the effect that .the.Children of; the country, settlers in New Zealandj - oWing to the system of secular education adopted by the State,, were growing up ■ in paganism. That was, to say the least, a . sweeping statement, and it was for tho purpose!of rofuting it that Sir Robert Stout stated that tho criminal- , - statistics ■;showed that tho greatest proportion of the convicted criminals of the Dominien were members of the Anglican Church itself. . It is this statoniont, I pre Sumo; whioh Mr. Harper has! attacked, and one can, therefore, understand' ihe applauso from the; pastors and-'raasters of tho denomination. . I ngree that Sir Robert Stout's .statement iis quite extraordinary; I also agree that it is reprehensiblo to those concerned most (the gentlemen who applauded); but I join issuo with Mr.. Harper when ho says that it is absplufely uiiprovable.- ■ Perhaps Mr. Harper and his colleagues do not know that at every Criminal Sitting of. tho -Supronie Court in Now Zealand therb is' laid before tlio presiding judge a ;statcmont ; prepared . from, the, prison Tecorde giving:the name and ageofo-ich accused : person , , the placo of, his birth, tho number, of previous convictions,." and the Churoh in which ;he was brought up. It is from theso statistics, that Sir Robert Stout has been able to .make the statements which. has caused \ such . indigiiafion. '■■ amonget -..:; the.;: Anglican ; oloxrar,

and, ugly as the fact may look against those gentlemen, it is provable almost mathematically from the gaol records.; I have had ; the opportunity of seeing some scores of , these charge-sheets myself, • and : have in- ' variably, been struck with the frequency with which members of the Church or England figure in the Criminal Courts. . I,do not overlook the fact that the" Church has the' greatest proportion of members of any Church in tho Dominion. Allowing for that fact these statistics prove that, next to another .Churcli which I need not mention, the Church of England produces a greater number of criminals' in proportion! to its membership than any othor A Church ui New, Zed: land. Sir Robert Stout's' statement, therefore, though extraordinary and'nodonbt roprohorisible, is—unlike the statement of Bishop' Neligan—provable beyond all' doubt. Mr. Harper went en to say that "we in~ tkia ..country have learned-not; to take fert Stout seriously in any matter," and this remark was also, greeted with applause. By "we;',' I presume, Mr. Harper means tho Anglican clergy. If so, Ido not desire to dispute his proposition, but, the' statement, if, true—as'the applause seems to; shows how largely the clergy of the Church of England.have grown out- of touch with the better opinion of the people of the Dominion.—l am, etc., •..'■ --.■!'■ H. H., OSTLER.,. ■July 14. v: ""-. :;>-' v -^'"'/.--' ■■ : [Sir Robert Stout's opinion expressed to; tho London "Daily News" did; not, so; far' as wo.>are .aware, refer to any particular Church. He was speaking of religious in-; structiori' generally.] - ...;.:.,'■•■ i .' -