SPORTS ON GOOD FRIDAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2749, 18 April 1916, Page 6

SPORTS ON GOOD FRIDAY

A PROTEST. (To the Editor.) .Sir,— I have been .waiting for a fortnight, past .to see an abler pen'than mine take up the subject of the pro-posed--"sports meeting," to be held at Treritham on Good Friday. -.Surely,' the -Bishop of Wellington is the proper person, to protest against such a desecration of the most sacred day in all the year. _ A neutral attitude at- such a. .time is surely a sinful one. Now that the Prime Minister has issued instructions to the racing fraternity (or rather suggestions) ■ regarding "Anzac Day," it behoves us to protest against the limp attitude of those in authority.in permitting such.an.outrage, especially in view of what is happening How.' I' have thirty Velatives m the .Army and Navy at the present time, straining every nerve 4o serve their •King/ and country, and I . know the -.name 'of ' 1 'Ahzac," - still, above all do 1 .honour. : and revere the sacred Good Friday, and its religious bearing at the present awful time of anguish and suffering, which we are now Is a precedent to be created for, the future, by gazetting the Holy Day as an ordinary holiday, to'be given up to ratous frivolity? Surely-New Zealand, witn all her "boasted advancement, will hardly presume to go as far as that?— I am, etc., . A SOLDIER'S MOTHER.

• Sir, —I believe the last census in New Zealand revealed that. 40 per cent, of our population had declared themselves members of-the. .Church of England and 14 per cent.;, members of . the Chiirci °' Kome. -All,of these are taught (or inll be taught) , tb regard' Good Friday as the. miist. solemn day in the year. Moreover,,"our. Nonconformist, brethren are increasingly; observing • the solemn- • ' ty . I', understand that 60 per; 'cent-; of ' our soldiers at Trentham';..are' , members ' of the . Church of England';'there are also Bom an Catho'lc®' ' necessary 1 , to take the most,, sacred, day in the year andhold thereon',7'sporls. and a queen carnival with' humorous' ite'mp? Could not Easter' Monday have just as well been .utilised.?:..lt...does: seem - remarkable that a'..Christian,country • should thus treat Iho ;onn; day Avhich by . the majority of rthe lias been held particularly, ..sacred. Nor is it the way to help Jo'ur'.soldiers ; most. They are soon going ;to the front; some, alas, in all probability never to return—somo to come bacl'.'-maimed for. life. AVould it not help them more to face death as gallant Christian gentlemen to observe devoutly the anniversary of that most gallant death of all—the death which has helped so many to fac'o the destroyer with the smile of victory ? We are hearing much of the spiritual awakening which is coming to many of our menat the front, pathetic and moving stories abound in the Home papers of. the reality of the faith which in many men has been long covered up and. lain dormant. Ido not think that many queen carnivals will be hold in the Homeland this Good Friday. Are we here in New Zealand nover going to take this awful struggle seriously we going to go on playing till the end? Yet, as.we frolic with our carnivals, our, husbands, brothers, and sweethearts a're going to their death, and some arc lying cold on the bloody field, with sightless eyes turned up to God's fair skv. Did it help them to die to think of our carnivals, to think of how we played when they so ,sorely needed our prayers instead? It was not thus that Britain in the days- of old prepared her gallant sons to go forth to dare and die. By all means give our soldiers sports, plenty of honest, clean, British snorts, but not. on that day of davs, which has a special message for those who are going soon to look into the face of death.—l am, etc.. . ERNEST I, SOLA. St. 'Alban's Vicarage, Eastbourne.