SUNDAY BASEBALL

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 153, 24 March 1939, Page 11

SUNDAY BASEBALL

Protest By Levin Church Organizations

USE OF DOMAIN GROUNDS Dominion Special Service. LEVIN, March 23. A resolution of protest against permission being granted to use the Levin Domain on a recent Sunday for a demonstration of baseball was received from church organizations in Levin at this month’s meeting of the Levin Borough Council. The communication was received, the council agreeing to the request by the signatories that the protest be published. The letter read:— ‘•We, citizens and ratepayers ot Levin representing various Christian organizations, enter our emphatic Protest aminst the action of the committee of the borough council in granting permission for the use of the domain on bunday, February 19. 1939, for a demonstration of baseball by teams- from Wellington. “We would point out that these grounds are the property of the ratepayers, and are procured ami maintained largely by ratepayers' money, and should be used m such a way that all ratepayers, not one section only, can participate. While probably all of us could enjoy a demonstration of baseball on week days, to permit this* on Sunday is against our religious convictions; and if we enter these domains and playing frounds on the Sunday while these games arc in progress we are regarded as approving. Therefore, tjie action of the council in permitting these grounds to be so used on the Sunday practically excludes from such grounds those whose consciences disapprove. And seeing that these grounds belong to the ratepayers as a whole, the action of the council, through its committee, unduly favours one party at the expense of the other. “We maintain that those grounds, being public, should on Sunday be free to the whole community, and used in such a way that will offend no one. Further, we maintain that, seeing that last December four baseball teams were able to visit Masterton to demonstrate on a Saturday and that last Monday, February 20, baseball teams were able to find time to demonstrate on the Basin Reserve in Wellington, there was no necessity for the Sunday play in Levin. “J. C. Davies (Church of England). “lan W. Fraser (Presbyterian Church). “J. Dennis (Methodist Church). \ “T. A. Randle (Salvation Army).

“H. H. Fenn (Church of Christ. “J. M. Murdoch (Brethren, Oxford. St.). “V. R. Kennerley (Women’s Christian Temperance Union). “D. L. Pirani (Methodist Ladies’ Guild). “I. Bishop (Women's Home League).” Supporting the mayor, Mr. P. W. Goldsmith, in his motion that the letter be received, Cr. F. E. Parker suggested that the views expressed were those of the signatories, the organizations they represented not having been called together to discuss the protest. In an interview the Rev. J. Dennis, pastor of the Methodist Church, said that since the constitutions of the churches protesting contained clauses in accordance with the protest there was no necessity to call together the organizations before the resolution was sent to the borough council.