LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE HON. JAMES ALLEN AK;p THE HOSPITAL SHIP.
Sir,—lt is with great reluctance that I write a word of criticism of the refusal of the Minister of Dofenco to send a Presbyterian chaplain with the Hospital Ship. It may bo that other nonEpiscopal denominations besides tho Presbyterian have moved hi this matter, but in this note I am concerned only with tho Presbyterian Church, which, to my knowledge, has requested representation and been refused. Ilio Minister's statement of tho reason why this very reasonable request has been dclined is so extraordinary aJid the whole tone of his statement so irritating; to "non-conformists" that criticism is inevitable. It is well-nigh incredible that tho Homo authorities should lay down tho dictum that bosides the Anglican and ■Roman Catholic no other Church need apply—so very nearly incredible that one is tempted to think the Minister must surely have misread his instructions. Tho Presbyterian Church ot New Zealand represents in tho Dominion the Church of Scotland, and the Church of Scotland is the Church of a nation that has given a much larger proportion of its sons to the cause ot Empire than any other portion of tho King's Dominions. You yourself told us a week or two ago that from tho manses of the Scottish Church no f c * ve * than nine out of every ten sons bad joined the colours. Do you think it likely that the Homo authorities would go out of their way to insult the Scottish Church whether in the Homeland or in New Zealand? But, dismissing this, Mr. Alien c/umj Iy suggests that "non-conformists should be content in the present emergency to hand over the spiritual care of their sons to chaplains of another Church. Let me hero correct the Minister's terminology. There are no ' 'non-conformists''' in New Zealand, ana as far as Presbyterians are concerned the term is not only a misnomer: it is an absurdity. In Scotland the Episcopalian is the non-conformist, only in that country we do not employ epithets meant to be slighting to any denomination of Christians. But why, pray, should we be content to see the spiritual welfare of our sons placed in the care of chaplains of denominations than our own? AAliy should Roman Catholics have a chaplain in the ship and Presbyterians none. The last census gave the Roman Catholic population as 140,523, while P res " byterians numbered 234,842. In tho light of these figures the Minister s attitude is, to use no harder word, barely intelligible. I know how needful it is that we should all hang together at this grave crisis of the nation's history* it is indeed a case of heart to heart and shoulder to shoulder, and we aro willing—more than willing—to play our part. But we are not willing to be calmly elbowed aside and treated to a few condescending pats on the back by Mr. Allen. Ido not know what proportion of Presbyterians are going -m the Hospital Ship, nor how many Presbyterians may from timo to time be placcd on. board of lier, but I do that ive have given of our sons at least in diie proportion to our luimbors to the great struggle. "We have a right to insist that men of our fai£h sbail be cared for by ministers of their own .... etc..
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2486, 12 June 1915, Page 3
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557LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2486, 12 June 1915, Page 3
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