ANGLICAN SYNOD

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2301, 7 November 1914, Page 9

ANGLICAN SYNOD

fciEBATE ON PROHIBITION. £ :..-: .. . : ■' .——:■■;-}:■■■■!■'"....; t GUILLOTINE APPLIED. n •;■■•" ■;■'.';-;.;;''-'■■ ■;:;/;..'/-- '-.->- . I (From Our; Owe Correspondent.)' "'■-. c ■■■-'> 'Auckland, 26. a At the Anglican Diocesan Synod a de- q ' Bate on prohibition took place -on the I Rev. 0. A. B. Watson's: motion—"That ,ii this Synod, earnestly reaffirms' its resolu- p ition of 1908." [This resolution '-was. h favourable -to Nc-License and prohibi- d ■ tion.] :In the course of his remarks a :'. in support of the motion, the mover said- 1 the Synod should declare itself on the s ■ question.- Hβ did not go so far as to s say that prohibition /was a perfect' re-' medy, but he hoped it would be, ; and in -Sthe /presentstate of the: law - no other reinoay was offered to the people. • "; ■ •■''■ .The Rev. A, H, CoMle, M;A,,: depre- :'■ ■"cated the introduction at the present time.of a motion of a distinctly provo-, ~. cative character, calculated ' to arouso ■ passionate resentment in many who con-. >- ; seientiously 1 objected to what they con- , sidered intolerable'tyranny.-' The", Pro, hibitionists apparently, failed to rec'og-' ' nise that the : opponents of prohibitionwere not all personally interested. The b "moderates" were lumped together and p labelled "liquor party. ,5 .The resolution 'y . in 1908 had- aroused resentment in many u churchmen, and, had he then been a,lay- o man, or one of the • unregenerated, he S would have felt inclined to-shake:his, a fist in the face of anyone who attempted: fi to dictate to himiin that ; wa;y.; He de- ." ' precated the use of patriotio feeling at a the present time for the purpose of ;the to ' motion,\for he felt: that, if prohibition t was earned when, the minds';-of./.the t; people were concentrated elsewhere, it . wquldibe long resented. He was glad, e that branches of the Moderate 1 'had been formed throughout the Do- :vi minion. National prohibition might s euit people like -the Germans, but Eng- t lishmen were not ready to submit to r Vexatious, irritating, and, to him, un- - : necessary, prohibition.' . . : The Rev. E.' Chitty objected to the : { passage of 'a resolution ' influencing churchmen in respect to their vote; . The Rev. W. C. Wood gave a number of reminiscences of Invercas-gill tmder, . No-License, and stated-fchaV'his experi- .: enoe- there had convinced Wm of • the ' complete inefficiency' of the .system.' '■-. V Caaon. Williams said /they .were all agreed upon the evil of drunkenness. but not upon the remedy.'••; Hβ could not >r eeo that prohibition .was a remedy at. t all. He had lived for a time in a place * ■where there was no liquor, and the ° suit of such',a state of affairs was.that the Holy Communion was degraded. One ? fcf .the,- reasons why. he ; 'would;,' vote || against prohibition, was that its, Bup- . porters ■' declared that the means ■ taken 1! by Jesus Christ .16 convey His highest J grace to man was unclean. ■Hβhad no .J ; doubt-' that, if total prohibition '-. were T carried, priests-would in due course be compelled to use, '■■ instead of wine,_ for r , .the . Holy Communion, some substitute -J as cold tea, which he, had' seen used in 3 Queensland. ' '■■.-..' ■ -.-"', y -.-V:'!! -'■ ,:. : ■'■' ■' The Rev. W.H. Wilson remarked f that the resolution -in 1908 had been r misrepresented.by No-License speakers T as a unanimous one, and;: as. urging , church people to vote'for No-License. S Ho hoped that on this occasion a divi- ? sim would be takcn, so as to prevent misrepresentation. . .' ,: ~;:.': _ The Bov.' C. A. Tisdall said-that,' al- ' though he supported No-License for ■ many years, he could riot now. support .. the resolution:at this'stage. , -: - . ■:' * Mr. Watson's.motion -was 5 tined," and the next business was piw-with.r-"Otago Daily- Timest??;; , v * ■'■ : ■ -'."• ■'■•'•'• : • ■ ' :■:-. ~ <!" v, .!'''-".''. ' I