THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD.

Evening Star, Issue 3403, 17 January 1874, Page 2

THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD.

v Friday, January IG. TEMPERANCE. The Committee on Temperance reported with pleasure that public attention seemed to be awakening to the great evils arising from intoxicating drinks. The fact that a Colonial Licensing Ordinance was passed last session putting checks on the traffic in drink and giving additional powers to the people with regard to granting licenses, was a sign that a more healthy opinion on this subject was getting hold of the public mind. Another encou-; raging fact was that a Colonial Act was passed by last Assembly disqualifying publicans from becoming Justices of the Peace. The various societies and organizations throughout the Colony, whoso object is the suppression of drunkennesi, have had much to do in arousing the public by directing attention to the fearful ravages committed by intoxicating drinks. The rapidity with which the Good Templars and others are forming lodges and societies throughout the land was another evidence that as reaction wae eetting ip against, the drinking cue-

t°ms of jjociety. Thera,, was,. however, much to ; ~°5 e t?-. : SK^ I has perPersevering efforts were required Wthepar&of the friends itt the community from iho. terrible ififempemhce. The following statistics were subnritted for considerate*? 1 J—Dunng.im therefore imported into fo £^ on ? e edttsumption— spirits, ,3 °L g A^ ona .i Mowal spirits, 29,440 gallons : n 3 gallopß l be ! r * 82 gallons; total, 288,314 gallons, or about tour gallons for everyone of tde population, or nearly six gallons for eyery one above 14 years of age. / Tho colonial beer was not taken into account, because the quantities used could not be ascertained. The following figures were given for comparison: - In 1867 ithere were used 3.6 gallons of spirits for each person in Otago ; in 1868, 3.5 gallons • in 1869, 3.1 gallons ; 1870, 2.7 gkllonf ml 2.7 gaUons; 1872, 2.8 gallons. In 1872 there were 571' public-houses in the Province, or one for every 129 of the population, pr one for every SO above 15 years of age/ ' During the same period L 100,723 were paid as duty for spirits, wne,-and beer,, or LI Ja for each-inhabitant-df the Province, pr nearly 39 percent. of the whole Customs revenue, or, mcludihg tobacoo, &c., 50 per sent. The committee regretted to find that the.convictaons for drunkenness alone are &th|r more than one-third of the total Convicttons4n the Resident Magistrates’: Godrts of thb Province. They directed ; attention ito thh stat& ment made in the House of Representatives; and was not contradicted, that6oo die annually m New Zealand from the effects of drink. With before us, it,is surely a diity to exert every nerve and use every lawful means to stem a current thatbnngs so much misery and loss on so many of out- feUow-creatufes. : ‘The cbittmittee recommended in conclusion that all lhe‘ ministers:©! the Church be instructed to preach on-temperance on the first Sunday in'RetJtelff--ber, and that.the qustoms; which lead tp.internperance be oiscounteiiajiced on ©vary suitable--1 occasion,/,especiallyrthe usja. of-<lntoxicating I ” n occasions of buying md selling. ' 1 f} rTu 6 5 ,ev ‘ ■ Ci*ark referred to the change of the Premiers opinion on the licensing-laws;' the action of Parliament last sessioii,' and tlie rapid . growth of temperance organizations .in oar mixdst as encouraging' indications'' towards improvement and reform; But there had beeh a great increase in the number of publifc-hoUB&.' For instance, in ; Dunedin, Invercargill,, .and ; iuapeka the number of public-houses equalled the grocera and bakers, and in Riverton.Naseby, and Cromwell, the, public-houses were' nearly equa, fully one-third of the, convictibns m the province- wsre .for drunkenness was a remarkable and lamenthblo fact, from a return supplied by the Oomtnissioner of Police fie found that in the number of habitual dfunkards the females were nearly double the males, in Fiugland the -convictions (for* drunkenness wore one for every 202 inhabitants; but-horeit was about one in every sevfeuty. saw nothing to regTet in ’- the fact that one-third of tho .Convictions in the' province were for drunkenness.■' He thought there would be nothing to object if-all the oonviotipns Were for drunkenness. ’He moved a deliverance, ‘ thanking ithe committee and its 1 convener for the, report, regretting, that,,.the practice of using intoxicating liquors was so common, and. in many, cases- carried to a ruinous extent, and rejoiced in the hopes held forth ■ by ■ the efforts of several temperance societies of arresting the evils of and in ..the* efforts of the Legislature to mitigate theseevils'; urging ,the i committee to continued exertions ih the grand good work of promoting .the 'Sobriety of nur people; and recommending that the; several ministers of the Church preach on-the subject', of:intemperance on the first .Sabbath-of September, as suggested in the Report., also desired to record its gratification-at the fact that tho Legislature, has at lehgth! sanctioned the permissive principle in the recent Licensing Act, and hopes that the people will vigorously exercise the-power entrusted to them, and effectually arrest the , alarming multiplication of public-houses.” ~T h« Mr ;; WATT thought'the efforts** the Templam and. Sons <,f - Temperance worthy of encouragement, i Rennie expressed his opinion that no organization, for the suppression of intemperwice had done so weU as the Good Templars, ile had to refer to a matter in which he did not* expect to hayp their sympathies. He-had-thought for a long tune that it Was not right td take intoxicating wine at the Lord’s Supper. ■ ■ they could get the wine pur Saviour used—and he;was told there wasplenty of it to 'hb obtamed—why should they persist in tho use of an article that contained from 25 to 30 per cent. .of alcohol ? .Were wo to use these things 7 because they were handed down to us by our forefathers? Teetotallers who had not had . their taste vitiated, found. such wine quite -ob- • noxious., ....." _ , The Rev. Mr GiLLiKSsaidthe Synod should' be chary of giving its support to the Good Templars, which was, he believedj a religiout ■ordSr.*' Rht what was the of its reUgion ? The religion .or fiemi-religion—of,their ceremonies • and prayera was certainly not Christianity; the contrary, tibere was a total ignoring of 1 Gbnstianity. —-He.simply desired; to point- pfit? to the Synod that it might.be fraught with din* ger to give support to : organizations,; tho religion of which woiild, in many cases, be thesole religion of many members oonneoted with the orders. ,1 he. Synod,: • therefore,-. 1 should noV hastily give it its approbation., ... : The Rev. Mr Christie was a Good Templar, and could assure the Synod that Mr GiUics Was error. Indeed, he (Mr 'GliHstic) #aa amazed to.hear such a statement bs Mr Qillieft ! had made. The religious condition of the Good - Templars was perfectly sound, , and . they were thorough Christians -in every Tespept of -the term; In their prayers they invoked the Holy * ot P Se Saviora ey PrayCd tl<rowgh[the “tefeession > ; The Rev. Mr had only attpuded one . 'TemSf Temperanoe, to which he . belonged, he could speak with certamty.. In tho lodge to’which ' fie belonged he was chaplain, and was-allowed ; tjo offer up what prayer he chose. , , Theßev. Mr Gillies, on being auDealed fo Was understood to say;tW he made P his state-.. -H 611 jJ n it some documents leHiplars themselves. \ / The Rev. Mr Rtlet mentioned.that he hid dechned to join a lodge of Good Templars, be■°f tb O d l 6 negatlve oharacter of the refigion

The Rev. Mr Christie remarked that the Templars were not banded together, to teach rebgi°n. “ ut to locate temperance. He repeated their prayers were not negative, because they invoked the Holy Spirit and prayed through the medium of the Saviour J _ The Rev. Mr Todd said that the reference to» St^^ T tTf? larß i— d ot hers did not commit" the Synod to the religious principle of the Good Templars. This had no doubt been done to cause ! large numbers to join. w H!^^J )r . C ?? l,A ? l ?. wißhed words added to the deliverance“ Further.,, the Synod expresses its regret that the Pro- r. vmoial Government has lately, granted hew opposition to the s P l . rit . of the new.Act, without listening to objections offered by, the inhabitants against Several members objected to this addition. a w P r Copland withdrew ifei The deliverance was then adopted. „ _ ONIQflr. ' ' .The Rev. Dr Stuart wished to state, before addresses were given by the deputies from the Presbyterian Assembly of New Zealand, why the deputation appointed by the last Synod did ‘ not present'themselves before the Presbyterian Assembly in Auckland. It unfortunately hap- ; pened that the Assembly was convened bn the sth December, a time which was extremely 1 inconvenient to himself, and he could not Wi be away from Dunedin. The time was equX mconvement fcr his co-deputies, especially thb Rev. Mr Ryley; but it was with ,nucH regret that they could not make .their- appearance inAuckland. Most of them were strSy g favor of union with the North, end, ,' go out of their way and make; iaaby, Si to obtain that object-an object calculated to" promote their common religioi* He' ‘ would iocopt W The Rev. Mr Hirih, Moderator of thePresbv. tenan Assembly, addressed the Synod mS* « rly M ard t0 respoct ' thought there was no difficulty? if falrlv fSJd acwunt. i

or for wlucih they ,W6rs giv&iu r ln regard to the support of the Ministry, v Ke had to state that: * in the North they were and had been for some] thfie’CPtttflhplating the establishment ofkoine-; thing like the Sustentatiqn Fund existing here.* •:-Tli© steps teken in .that direction he ■was happy’ say had been successful so far. The.only real difficulty in the way of union that he knew* of was the geographical circumstances in which: they were placed, which might cause some in-: convenience l in regard to the meetings of a Synod or Assembly. - But other Churches got over that difficulty, and so might they. The golitical business of the Colony was transacted; I Government, and so might the business ’ Of;theit.phurch;:; Nay, more, u the Middle Island were to be separated from the North politically,.it would still be the duty of the’ Church to) he united. , There was no difficulty in the •Way of union that honesty.of purpose, large-: heartedness and wisdom ; could not easily over*- 1 come. There was another point he must touch upon, and that was the time,at which this union otight to takeplace. .'lt was the opinion i of the brethren in’ the North that' it ought ; <td takeplace immediately—that was to say, ! there should be a decision giveh : ‘immediately for union that negotiations should ■iv . .into immediately to. • carry' out that decision, and that■>as. soon as possible; the union. : should take place.' There was no ??J? ec V | his question whict affected the Church iu the North morc seriously than it did the Church of Otage. In /act, the Northern Church must know whether union was t6 take pmce or ; not. > It was a necessity with them. There were some things in their Church seriously,: affected by the uncertainty iof union. Prominent among these was. ;the training of wieir young mentor the ministry, •; The.Otago Church, was placed differently in regard/to this having facilities for carrying out its objectsinthis direction which’ the’Northern Church did not possess. The latter had been putting off from time ■to time a scheine for the education of .their young nten, in view of the union which nught.take place with Otago. But they could delay this matter no longer if the was.not to take place for sbrae years. The instructiona that Mr M‘Kinney and himselfgot 39ft "P® General Assembly were clear and .distmet. It was before' the, Assembly that the Synod of Otago were about to take steps in the Ui re otion pf theological education, and the Assembly agreed' to ■ co-operate' in founding bursaries and sustaining theological chairs ; but it Was also agreed that this should be done only if it were certain that the union was soon to take place. If that were not certain, then the members, of the Northern Church must take steps themselves to supply their own wants. In ooftoludmg his remarks, ha niight say that he hoped no one would imagine that this union was a necessity of their existence and prosperity os Church' « t^ e North. He was glad to say that the Presbyterian .Church of New' Zealand was in a healthy Ihey had some forty-three, or :forty-fi vo minis ’Many of those n\misters preach in two Pl“® es (in Sunday— sotpe in! three. .There'was a interest in the Home Church in recard their evangelisation work, as with the Utago Oburch there was a willingness to give them greater support than ever in that work of their.own members was increasing, M-they would jee by the very gratifying fact that raised fog the schemes; of their Unu-ch last year was exactly double that raised for the schemes pf their Church in the previous lapt, more than doubje what was raised during anypt-evioua year of their existence as a. iThey were in a healthy condition—, they sought no advantage, and they had none tO.give (nlaugh)—butthey vrished union, be. pause-they beUevedthat the' Presbyterians of Nfl.w responsiblei for the evangelisation of aU New Zealand—(hear, hear, and applause)—-that they ought to give mutual help to each other wherever situated, and that mutual help-eonld be effectually given only by tfte two Churches becoming one. / The Rev. Mr M'Kinney “homologated” every word of the speech delivered by his brother, the Rev. .Moderator of .the General Assembly, and m a highly humorous and forcible address, pointed; out the necessity - and the advantages or a speedy union.,; , The Rev. Mr Stobo then proposed the folIqwing. deliverance :—“ The Synod having the addresses of Messrs Hill and M'KinHf 7>; • F® c U r 4 ‘the gratification ; with which they nave, listened to their addresses; cordially reciprpeate their desire for union, and request the Moderator to return the, thanks, of the Synod, *9 ? e PU« e s % their excellent addresses, and request the deputies to communicate to them the expression of this Church’s' brotherly affection and esteem,” which was agreed'to. • ; -. ..•••• /•' ;then, in ; accordance with the terms of the deliverance, tendered the addre °* deputies for their v.v..,. ——- ■■ • • —. 'T ■‘i-" January 17. .hj ato’clock this: morning, and after devotional, exercises ? the ‘ minutes of the. last sitting ,w;ere read. the proposed union. - 3*? STOBo.moved that the following gentlemen be appointed to fonn a committee to Revs. Dr Stuart, Dmptond Win, M'Naughton, G,ow, Allan, Stobo, Ross. (Queenstown),. Todd, FGferk;;\Rldefs^VjMessrs. Cargill, Patterson, : Shaw, ! Dmican,WatSQn; and Fab POneKvJC (The discussion on- this question and our report Qbto-day’s proceedings, we are obliged to hold over,].. = ~ n ; . .