“ROTTEN TO THE CORE.”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4877, 14 September 1925, Page 3

“ROTTEN TO THE CORE.”

WORST TOWN IN HISTORY. HERE IN NEW ZEALAND. That Napier is the most evil and immoral town of which there is any record since the beginning of history is evidently the opinion of the Rev. D Gardner Miller, of Napier’s Congregational Church. ‘‘Reeking witli drink and immorality,” it is, the scene of events “so unutterably beastly as to preclude their being mentioned in the most vile type of yellow-backed French .novel.” It is “analogous with Rome” in Rome’s worst dayis ; and to call it “indecent” is to flatter it. “Napier is reeking with drink and immorality,, and I wish the Preset was here. At a* social function in this city on Tuesday evening last the police had to be called in. I have had pointed out to me in Napier women who were dressed better than I can afford to- dress my wife, and these womencame from hotels after sucking cocktails. A young man told me straight to my face tiiat there would be nothing in life without a ‘spot,’ and the social life of this city would oe tame without a ‘spot.’ .What is wanted in Napier is a revival.” The foregoing (says the Daily Telegraph) are extracts from a sermon preached last Sunday evening at the Congregational Church by the Rev. D. Gardner Miller.

Interviewed next day by a Telegraph reporter the Rev. Miller intimated that he would stand by every word he said. “The social side of Napier’s life is rotten to the core,” he remarked, “and some of the incidents which occur after any big social function in this city are so unutterably beastly as to preclude their being mentioned in the most vile type of yellow-backed French novel.” “In the majority of cases,” continued Mr 1 Miller, “drink has prompted these indecent incidents, and when I say indecent I am putting it very mildly, and being as charitable as possible.” Mr Miller went on to say,that accentuated prosperity amongst a certain [section of the community had much to do with the social evils that prevailed in Napier at the present time. “It isn’t by any means the lower -or working classes who: are the offenders,” said Mr Miller, “it is, Napier’s would-be smart set who imagine that they are being bon ton when they forget the claim of morality. who are the offenders, and their mode of living has sprung from prosperous times, and is analogous with Rome when it was at the height of its luxurious power. ”We are in danger of forgetting the challenge of to-morrow,” he continued, “when New Zealand will occupy an international position which ho words of mine can possibly exaggerate. I am no kill-joy,, and am put to create a healthy public ’sentiment, not one on the lines of a ‘Paul Pry’ -or a barren puritanism, but one in keeping with the Dominion’s excellent athletic record.” "The churches of this city, including my own,” concluded Mr Miller, “have forgotten the. social implication of their message.”