PROTESTANT POLITICAL ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 222, 13 June 1919, Page 6

PROTESTANT POLITICAL ASSOCIATION

. ADDRESS BY BEV. HOWAB-D ELLIOTT. •'A. nje'eting of tho Wellington. Central Group ox ; tho Protestant Political Association' was held, in St.'John's Schoolroom last night. The speaker was tlia Dominion organiser of the association, the E£v.' Howard Elliott. Mr.' J. K. Burley presided. , ■ The Bev. Howard Elliott spiko of tha progress' of the association, mentioning the-numbers, of new groups, that list) been formed in the Wellington division and. hi other, parte of New, Zealand. Ha Baid;;that the cause of , the Protestant Political Association was a rapidly growing causp, and the chief difficulty of the assqeiatiba : was to get organisel's to do the: vyork requiring to be done. He regretted that ,in Wellington the groups were not so closely organised as in some other centres. The groups in'Hutt and Petone were very and in Wellinjton North some, industry was being shown. There was need for more energy and closer organisation if the full weight of the Protwtant vote was to be effective at/next-elestion., Most of all ho.would urge the members of the-association to see that every Protestant "votor was on the roll. If everybody sat back to let others do the job it .would never bo done. They : would sucoeed >only if. everyone did his bit. .'.The-speaker went on'to speak of tho question, with special refeTr eiice' .to -the /remarks of Bishop Sprott recently, when that; gentleman deplored the fact thjt the control of education in this ' country had been. allowed, to - pass from the., Churches. Mr. Elliott strongly dissented from this view, declaring that the interests of the country and tho Interests of Protestantism were bound up ■with the maintenance of the free, secular, and compulsory education supplied by tha State; He hoped that the wish of Dr. Sprott that one day the Churches would regain control of education would nevfcJ be realised.'''He said- that the , Stato sy'steni''assured a good education: for everybody, while a Church system could not assure this. He urged tho association members' to'6ee that they Toturned to "power " m'&nbers who would insist 011 leaving the Wtional system' alono. Mr. Elliott; 6poke of the conscientious objectors' controversy and Mr. H. Holland's activities. • He had no sympathy with conscientious objectors or with their advocates. • Never would the'association agree to any relaxation of the terms imposed by way : of punishment upon conscientious objectors. , to Labour, he said that tbo P.P.A. was not opposed .to Labour. It had 20,000 unionists on its roll of members, While the unionist supporting the official Labour Party, led by Messrs. Holland, Eraser, and Semple, numbered only Invac.tual 'fact' the effectivo' iffefigtb 'Qf . the'.official Labour Party was fes'.'thanVlO,ooo—which meant that.';less thanjiOnMeventh of the unionists of tho cpusiry' were -. behind' the,, official Labour FaVty."';-,The,!platform ;'of the P.P.A.' was being? pifipa'red by' representatives of. all interests'.in;','tho ..community, 1 including labour, representatives. The' P.P.A', were absolutely opposed to Sinn Feinism; .'Bolshevism,, and Bed Fedism, for peoplo'of these persuasions would deny- equal rights to_aJl and claimed, special' privileges for cne-'class 'in'' tho community, which they called the proletariat. The strike in 'Australia was an endeavour to break down constitutional government in Australia, and to substitute for it Bolshevism. Tho same thing was operating in New Zealand, but a little more quietly. Ws ■had'as much to fear here as tho people of-Aflstralia :had from the outbreak of Bolshevism and tho application of Bolshevik -methods. Sane Labour would have_ none of tliese methods; neither (would the P.P.A., Whon the P.P.A. op-posed-..Bplshevism it did not do it ,in order to "6plit Labour." Sanjuel Gotnpers was no friend' of tho Eat Man, but ne opposed tho principles for which Holland and Semple and Eraser stood in ■New Zealand. Protestant Labour men must know that they could nevor servo the interests of Labour by selecting as their leaders such men as were now at the head of the movement. The P.P.A. stood for the fairer distribution of ■wealth, but for the achievement of this by "the"'ways by which all progress had cpm'e;' not by the sword. The P.P.A. had no-sympathy for-the Bolshevik who would rob. all above liim, and even less sympathy for tho Bolshevik who would rob all below him—the man who prospered by .grinding tho faces of the poor.

; PETONE BRANCH. i Tie' monthly meeting of the Petone ; group of the Protestant Political Associa-

; tion was heldin the Orange Hall on AVed- : Jiesda.y evening. Mr. Ashman occupied : the chair. During tlio course of the meet- ! inf!, Mr. D. S. Bedingiield, headmaster of ' tho Petone West*, School, read a paper ! on the present educational sjstem, deal- • ing exhaustively with free, compulsory, i and secular education. Tho meeting was brought to a close by tho singing of the I National Anthem.