CANON GARLAND'S COURACE.
Sir, —As an opponent of the Bible-in-Schools League I want to express my appreciation of the courage displayed by the llev. Canon Garland. Ho abandons the one campaign to tako up tho position of chaplain to tho Training Camp at Brisbane, and in so doing has set an example worthy of the highest consideration. It was gratifying to mo to seo your personal paragraph about tho Canon in your paper yesterday morning. Tho more so beca\iso on tho question of wet and dry canteens _ the Canon's roccnt pulpit deliverance is a severe criticism of certain clergymen in New Zealand who are molesting the authorities and the Minister of Defeneo with paltry and childish views 011 this question. The Hon. Jas. Allen has administered two just rebukes to the Prohibition clcrgynssii—one in Dunedin, and the other from Wellington to Cbristchurch clergy—within a fortnight; and it ir, about time these reverend ,bu6y. bodies droned their clutter, aad_
ceased to create what your article calls "needless alarm" over liquor in tho hospital or oilier ships. if a drop ol' spirits would save or prolong a soldier's lili, with tlie possibility of saving it altogether, and anyone refused to supply that liquor, and tlio soldier died, suck person would be guilty of manslaughter; and Prohibitionists arc going too far when they want to imposo their mode of life upon others, especially upou thoso who aro lighting and laying down their lives in defence of liberty and civilisation in Europe. These Prohibition clergy of Cliristchurch refer to tho h-ii'K and Lord Kitchener. Tho King's personal resolve has not been followed bv the British House of Commons, and Lord Kitchener is sending 10,000 gallons of rum to tho troops in Flanders every fortnight. As to "weir tanteens, they wore found necossary in Egypt. The New Zealanders were treated as children in this Dominion, I?ut in Egypt they were treated as men. and a "wet canteen was established. It is because tho "dry" canteen was forced upon tho -men that so maaiv liavo been invalided home. Canon Garland, in a sermon preached on the second Sunday in May in Brisbane Cathedral, said, inter alia; "It seemed to him tho most reasonable way to deal with tho situation was to open ill tho camp a wet canteen, under proper regulations and restrictions, and to prohibit soldiers in uniform being served with alcoholic liquors outside. AA r hat was wanted was to find the most adequate solution of the problem, and ho would say_' that much of the evil would bo obviated if a properly regulated wet canteen was opened at the camp." The experience of other chaplains, like Mr. Thornton, in Egypt, supports this view. The Canon has the courage of his convictions. and he has the support of all military, authorities on this point. But all that apart, the question is not one to bo decided oy Prohibition clergymes, but by the military and tho men themselves. Take a vote of the soldiers on tho question. The Minister ofDofence has adopted tho right attitude.—l am, etc., TEMPERATE.
BRITAIN'S UNPREPAREDNESS. Sir, —In the speech of our Governor, Lord Liverpool, delivered in the Town Hall, AA'eihngton—as reported by the Press Association—we find His Excellency opening his speech with the remark that:—"He was going to express' his opinion, which might not agree witli the opinions of some other people." In this lie was quite right, and 1 am one of those "other people." I may mention that since 18S)8 I have lived -more in England than in this country, and had the advantage of listening to the opinions of learned and experienced friends and other gentlemen in the reading and smoking-rooms of London clubs, and such other places as the learned and cultured do most congregate, and have paid much attention to the doings of Great Britain's present Liberal Government, and therefore 1 am astonished to find a learned gentleman of exalted station entertaining the opinion His Excellency does in regard to the Asquith Government. His Excellency is reported to have said:—"At the present moment what we really lack m the British Empire is a sufficient supply of arms, equipment, and munitions. The nation was not prepared for this great struggle, and I do not think we should blame tho Government for not being prepared for such a gigantic war."
This will not do, for Britain's unpardonable unpreparedness is the direct fault of Britain's present Government and their supporters, viz., trade union agitators, Socialists, Labour- M.P.'s, Radicals, Democrats, Irish Nationalists, strikers, and all' other self-in-terested fools. It is the Asquith Government who are directly to blame for the country's being so short of equijv ment and munitions, for one of their first actions on coming into power was to sack some hundreds of skilled mechanics from our arsenals, knowing as they did—for everybody know—what Germany was doing, what slio was working for, and what her objects and intentions and ambitions were. Indeed, it ivas the common topic of conversation, and had been for twenty years and more. Is it at all likely that where overy well-informed nun in the Kingdom—and even in tho colonies—was w ell aware of what Germany was doing and what her intentions wero, that Cabinet Ministers should be ignorant of it? The very annual vote for Navy and Army—always so foolishly inadequate—was always howled down by the Government's supporters, and cut down. Lord Roberts cautioned the Government and country for several years concerning our unpreparedness, and what wo might expect; and Lord Cliarie? Beresford was forever calling attention to tho inadequacy of our Navy, our obsolete ships, and obsolete armament, but all tlieso and other warnings went for nothing with the Asquith Government. They simply pooh-poohed it all. And yet His Excellency cannot see that the British Government of to-day is in any way to blame. AVhy, Sir, they are in this matter directly to blame for this awful war, for as a German officer taken prisoner by our troops told his captors: "Had Britain possessed,a proper Army, well equipped, and thoroughly prepared for war, then Germany would not have declared war." As all tho world knows, tho only guarantee of peace is to be thoroughly prepared for war. —1 am, etc., A JOHN. BULL. [This letter lias been condensed.]
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2486, 12 June 1915, Page 3
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1,047CANON GARLAND'S COURACE. Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2486, 12 June 1915, Page 3
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