THE BROTHERHOOD.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1885, 20 October 1913, Page 5

THE BROTHERHOOD.

, ADDRESS BY THE REV. G. KXOWLKS smith: There was a good attendance at the meeting of the Wellington Centra! Mis- ' sion Men's Brotherhood yesterday afternoon, when the Rev. G. Knowles 1 •Smith delivered an address on "Social and Mora! Evils." , Social life, Mr. Smith remarked, was ! a subject to bo handled with care. Much was said about "the liberty of tho '[ subject." but while anyone placed alono oil an island would be at liberty to do as he pleased, the mere sight of footprints in tho sand would put an end to 1 that state of affairs. Save in a condi- , tion of individual isolation thero were ahvavs others to be considered: Tho speaker divided his subject into three main heads: "Congestion -of Wealth," "The Trinity of Evil" (drink, gambling, and immorality), and "The Inefficient." . It was absurd, lie said, to preach contentment. The' English income was £100,000,000; the accumulated savings , of the population amounted to £235,000.000. Eighty thousand mem- , hers of the population did not know , where tho next meal was coming from. In Glasgow, every niglit, a .thousand ■ men, besides women and children homeless. While some people wero storing away others were starving.. It was impossible to preach contentment, while some were cradled in the lap of luxury and others were in the throes of penury and poverty. As indicating that conditions were very far from being nerfrct in . New Zealand Mr. Smith cited the case of a boy in Christ-church who was taken from school to work so that 'the members of his family might not starve. The remedy for such a state • of affairs, Mr. Smith declared, was to ; reouire that everyone, should work. The , position was to be met' by sane Social- ; ism. TTe advised his hearers to rend : Mr. Philip Snowdon's hook on the right in live. Christianity. Mr. Smith declared, was tho truest Socialism, teach- ; j ing as it did the Fatherhood of God and tho brotherhood of man. In regard to the drink traffic, they heard only that week of the insecurity of the trade. If, ; should ho insecure when the drink bill exceeded the cost of 24 Government Departments. Great Britain spent twice as much on intoxicants as it did on broad, seven times more than on tea, coffee, and cocoa combined, three : times more than on cotton and woollen poods, +"11 times more than on education. The remedv was to stop making ! the drink. Mr. Smith classified the - inefficient members of society as fol- i lows:—(1) Those who wajit work and I cannot get it. (2) Those who do not ; want' work. (3) Those who want work, ] bn*" eonld not do it if they rr.it it. ] Mr. C. E. Pees 1 recited "The Slave's i Petition," and Mr. Boyd sung a solo. i : ] j , ' 1 1 1 1 1 l 1 ■ < i