RELIGION AND MORALS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 649, 28 October 1909, Page 8

RELIGION AND MORALS.

. PRESBYTERIAN (GENERAL ASSEMBLY.. | THE CHTXECH AND THE WORKINGMAN.. ■POSITION. OF THE NO-LICENSE MOVEI ■"■ment:,. .:..''... .. .-■• ; (By Telegraph—Press. Association.) • Christchnrch, October, 27. .•The Presbyterian General Assembly, resumed. .this morningi when the report on the state of religion'and morals • was presented.by a com- | mittee, which had turned its attention to the iinnch-disoussed problem of thVrelation of the worJdngman:to''tb<) Church. The' committee had questions to elicit information oh tho mattef.and the. answers received were of. a reassnrring nature, and justified' a I decidedly hopeful .view-of the ..situation. The fist, question submitted was; Do you ' consider'that '.the workihgmen . attend, your i church proportionately as'well as other classes of the community? ■ ,v '~ • .', Of ,97 answers,- 72 were in the affirmative, 17 negative, and • 8 , undecided. • The • negative answers , were, for the ;.most part from . the larger centres'and. small towns. :."' -The next question asked was,an opinion as to the main factors', tending .to alienate the workingman' from the church.; '•.-•'.. ■■!'■., . The.reasons assigned, were various. ' Briefly, , they., were:—Defects' in .'preaching, which 'was often dry; lifeless,; impractical, arid delivered in'a'monotonous tone; lack of sympathy-and brotherliness' among, church .members; inability, or unwillingness; on the part of the church the peculiar! difficulties of the ..workman's, lot-low standard of character among communicants; lack of systematic and aggressive efforts on ' the part of 'the church;, too great financial demands on the part of the church; lack of adaptability,: due to conservatism . on' the part of the church;' failure to cope/with the difficulties arising from the shifting nature of the population.- . The committee had.also a list of,factors of alienation, discoverable in the worker himself. These• were:—Want of interest in spiritual matters; the worldly temper so-prevalent in oar time; misconceptions, as to the nature and purpose of the church; drink and gambling, which, played: no! inconsiderable ■ part in'the problem; scepticism.; • "■' .-' ■.•,.' : . ' When SDcialism.and'Socialistic ideas' Were! made resppnsibje.for antagonism or indifference to the church,-, what , was : .meant was the materialistic: Socialism of the Blatchford type. .Socialistic agitator's and leaders had been, and are, often,militant rationalists.. ' '"'...•.' '."

;.-,;The: report, ;aft«r discussion, was agreed to; . ,:-:.''...- .Report ..on Temperarce.. .The Temperance Committee submitted I'a rei port 'wh'ich'i'brpught' up the whole licensing, questibn.' The!committee's deliverance recom•uonded - the assembly • to . petition Parliament ivr-';--:i '".■' ••; ,' : '•:..•;:'■..' V ;:'•;'•:•■ .•'.'■'.: (a) Cancel, the .....wholesale .licenses recently granted: within'the boundaries of Rohepotae.' : ; ..fb).Make the' locker system illegal. The. assembly, was also''recommended: to ex-' press .gratification'at the continued good resultsof No-License,; to:,urgo ministers and superintendents' to:riiake,:the.'fullestuse of the opportunities afforded,for; temperance instruction arid pledge-signing 'in'. Sunday, 'schools; to .appoint the fourth Sunday Via: November as -Temper.ance.'.Sunday. •■'' '■■•■ '..;■. , , ■, ', The Eev. A'.'-Doull moved the adoption of the, report. -He referred to the decline in the per-' centage of increase: in' votes, but he -thought, there was no : reason. for fear-or discouragement. There was one novelty in the'replies ne had received vfrom s districts which had' been :under : No-Licenseifor. some;time. -In those districts there., seemed.-.'to' .be some difficulty in making comparison •' between No-License and : License, as ;days of .License were, so; far away that they had',practically .forgotten.'.the'.evils from which"they-had been relieved. ;He referred to the statements made- ; by the.president ofi'the Licensed' Victuallers' - Association of Sydney," characterising thenias a' sort of fanciful' declarations made by those who were away, from '•the''spot.,' The,amount of Custbms and beer duty'paid aWnvercargill .did not give, a fair basis for .estimating the amount of liqnor going into.lnvercargill.as that .'centre supplied quite a- number of. licensed districts. ■'-Tatting , the three ports of: Otago and r Sonthland, there had only been an'increase in the three-last year's'bf ;£7342, which for'fifteen electorates was infinitesimal when compared with any other fifteen electorates.' . .',.'.'■- •:.,■,

As to the-statement' that .there was -an increase of crime inNo-License districts, he had only to refer' to Invereargill; to find that its record was one practically of the abolition-: of .crime, culminating on August 31, when ,thero was a clean sheet, in front of Mr. Justice WiV liams.' ;'' ■■'"'■:;"■- - ■■ '- ' ',-_ /, The motion was seconded by the Bev: D. : fi. Scott, who pointed but .that effective' work; .could be.done by Sunday, schools.. '-..'. :' ; ;.-'..{ i . . !j .

-';:;•.,,.' V, iThree-fifths Majority. ' ':',-; Mr/ J. Lane .said that, he would agree ,with the three-fifths /majority if New Zealand was a Presbyterian ..country. - (Laughter.)";., The' strong backbone of Presbyterianism in .-'. .the: south was the cause of temperance success-in' the southern "electorates,,but where did.they have that in the north?. (Laughter.)- The as-sembly-should seriously consider,the education, of the : majority. , He positively, felt'- ashamed in' Ashburton- when people asked -him.-why there, were no p'ublichouses .there when the 'majority wanted them. Tho'three-fifths majority was-supported by many people .because it. gave permahencse to the, decision;'but : the ,ex-, perience -of Cauada showed ' .that permanonco was sufficiently secured by .the bare majority. The-Bey. .Mr. vMilne asked permission.- to add to the deliverance "that the co)n'mittee, .take ■ into .consideration the : question of • State control of the liquor traffic, and' report, to the next assembly." There ■■" was' 'an emphatic. chorus_ of dissent, which the .speaker humorqusly interpreted into'a roar of approval. He explained that =he was altogether 'against Li.cense. He' could not go in for, No-License', so whole-heartedly.as'.some of 'his .'brethren; as he could not. see eye.-to: eye. with'.them ' oh the question of compensation. While he; believed in No-License' he did' not believe in Prohibition; that was 'why. he ;thought the' ; .'committeo' should inquire into the: matter,of State control. ,}He had made some' inquiry into the movement at Home, and he found that a very strong opinion existed that reformation' there must come along the lines'of State control. He was. persuaded that the assembly.' should con-, sider the question; as'it would assuredly have to face it in tiie future. . The debate was'interrupted by the'luncheon adjohrnment, and the assembly adjourned till 7 p'jn.••;• ;,;-'■ '■•'■'.■■'■:•'"' At 7'p.m; the Bev. Mr. .White (Waihi) r* sMmed the debate on the report of the Tem/ :perance Committee. .He bore testimony,■ to-the success of No-License" in :• his' district,.'-and spoke of'its;beneiitsj : especially' to the young. As ; far as State control ,was concerned, h'e,,lelieved .those ,who spoke, in favour of it were helping another .movement that was hot so good.: ■•'.' '■:.- •-.'" '. -.' ;•' "•..-■ ■',■■■■ 1 The-Eevi-P, B. Eraser 6aid the assembly .was used to Mr. Milne's pet notion regarding State control, which Mr. Milne usually dealt with in' a humorous way, and he was usually'dealt with in tho assembly in the same fashion..Mr. Milne wanted to turn the clock back about 'half a century. He was a:Bip Van Winkle in his proposal. ■ He challenged Mr. Milne to table a motion on the subject, and said if 800 members were present; would vote against it. (Applause.) ;*' Mr. Milne, in a.personal explanation; denied that there was any sinister snggestiveness, in his idea.V He'merely wanted a: committee to inquire into the subject; • On the motion of the Bey: Mr. Gray (Gore), 'it was. resolved', to include in tie deliverance a suggestion that'. th,e Government 1 take 1 , steps to prevent. the manufacture of intoxicating liquorin No-License areas. . ,'. The Bev.; Mr.'.Johnston (Sheffield): moved that the assembly should' express the opinion that the three-fifths majority , should"be re- ! diced.'.'' -.■''' "': '".:..'-'■■',■■;■'. Dr, Gibb, speaking ,to a-point of order,'said .notice/of .motion-was ,nece-ssary.,:Tbe:Moderator concurred,; and .Mr. Johnston - gave, notice of motion.',." '''-',' I ,-', ';.■.'"■'.•'■■'•. ■■ ..■''."'■"' The Bev. Mr. Doull having replied, the report wis .adopted;;.;;.,., v. '-"., „'.'.'