A SACRED CAUSE

Levin Daily Chronicle, 30 May 1918, Page 1

A SACRED CAUSE

"YOU CANN9T TTAT.T WAGE A WAR." Mr Lloyd George last month visited the annual assembly, at the City Temple, of the National Free Church Council, and received an enthusiastic welcome from the members. In an inspiring speech, he said that the special tasks of the Churches in the war were to help to preserve the nation from anything unworthy of the great cause for which we are fighting, to keep the nation up to the level of the high purposo with which it entered the war, and to keep up the spirit of the psople until these high ideals were attained. The following are the chief points front the Prime Minister's address:— In the history of this country the Churches of the land have often been severed in the great struggle for liberty. They have not always been on the same side. To-day all the Churches are one and indivisible in this the greatest struggle for freedom the world has ever seen. None the less am I' proud of the part which the Free Churches have taken in this worldshaping conflict. They had special difficulties to overcome before they took ' part, greater difficulties perhaps than any other Churches. For over two generations at least .the Free Churches of this land have taken a leading part in teaching the nation to seek for a more equitable means of settling international disputes .than tho senseless i and conscienceless arbitrament of the cannon and rifle. (Cheers.) The prejudice, and the righteous prejudice, against war was sinking deeper and deeper, generation by generation, year by year, into the mind of the ironconformist. The German challenge struck something that was deeper still in the Free Church mind. It struck the love of freedom, the hatred of oppres«ion, the instinct of right and fairplay; and when the call came the Free Churches rose even above their abhorrence of war and once again dreav the sword that in the past helped to win the liberties of Britain — the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. The call was the call of our country, but it was something wider, deeper, higher, than even the call of our native land. I am not one of those rather superior persons w*ho despise patriotism. Love of country is one of those potent engines which enable the children of men to use their wings. It lifts them above self-interest, and above sordid appeals, to the clearer atmosphere of sacrifice. But the appeal of the war was greater even than the appeal of patriotism. It was tie cry of the weak for help against th« brutality of the strong. It was the cry of conscience against greed, of humanity against the tyranny of force. That is the thought that led milions of the best young manhood of the British Empire to its Calvaiy. When that call came the young men of the Free Churches thronged to the standard, and as a Free Churchman I am " proud of their record. (Cheers.) DRINK AND BREAD. Now what is the special task of the Free Churches in the war I I mean to speak quite freely. One is to help_ to preserve the nation from everything which is unworthy of the sacredness of this great cause. (Cheers.) The Churches have not merely a right, it is their special task, to see that the mora) and physical fibre of the nation is not undermined by drink and vice. (Loud and continued cheers, and cries of "Why not stop them, thenf") Just let me conclude, will you? Government have to deal with practical dufficultios but that does not absolve the Churches! (Cheers.) Not only have Governments no right to resent pressure from the Churches; they have a right to expect it, and they ought to welcome it. They do welcome it. It helps them to solve practical difficulties, helps them to got over these difficulties, and it helps them to remedy glaring evils and to cleanse our national effort from the unsavoury incidents which reveal the squalid side of war. (Cheers.) I resent no pros sure and no criticism, except one kind I resent the kind of criticism that seems to imply that these evils began when I took office. (Cheers.) I claim fair play, above all, from my fellow Free Churchmen, and I have come here among other things to say so this afternoon. Drink! By the end of 1916, after 2% rears of war, the consumption of alcohol had been reduced by 28 per ccnt. That is a very considerable reduction, and more than any man would have dreamed of four or five years ago. By to-day, through our Orders, there has been a further cut of 50 per cent. — (cheers) —not including the 28 per cent. —in the consumption, not simply of beer, but of spirits. No spirits are being manufactured at this hour. In 1914 if any man had attended a meeting of the Free Church Council and had said that when they met in 1918 a Free Churchman would stand up and sny that drink was only one-third of what it was four years ago, who would have believed it? When there is a criticism, when there is suggestion, when there is pressure, you don't help things along when you don't recognise the achievements and the progress made along the line. (Cheers.) Criticism which is nothing but criticism does not help; (Cheers.) I will tell you more. Bread has not been rationed, but if ever there be such a need in this country that you have got to choose between bread for the children and beer for any of their parents, you will find no hesitation on the part of this or any other Government. (Loud cheers.) Not a single hour shall we hesitate. . A HOLY WAR. What else is the function of the Churches? The function of the Churches is to keep the nation up to the level of its high purpose when it entered the war. No nation ever entered a war with a more holy purpose than this one. (Cheers.) There was not a grain of selfishness in the national aims when it entered this war. It is the business of the Churches to sec that there is none now. The Churches must see that the flag is kept waving high, that it is not bedraggled in the mud, and that it is not soiled with vengeance, with greed, with savagery. Keep the war till the end, whenever God wills that it shall come to an end, a holy war. Anything else would disgrace the memory of the heroic dead.

Says the Feilding "Star":—As the number of the returned men increases, it is becoming more and more urgent that they should be safeguarded from the evils of strong drink. There was a sad demonstration of this during the few minutes the troop train stayed in Feilding last Saturday afternoon. There were far too many men on that train who were "in their cups." And some of them insulted a number of our ladies who had taken down fruit. "What .sort of a place is Feilding—why don't you bring us down some drink?" was their complaint. It is a great pity that a few men who cannot withstand temptation should give a bad name to the whole party. But it is the authorities and the hotels that should be held responsible.., jEvery hotel along the whole line of route from Auckand to Invercargill should be placed out of bounds from the time returned men land until they reach home. It should be remembered that these men are all invalids, and they should be protected from themselves and their worst friends— for that man is no friend who gives an invalid soldier strong drink. And hotelkeepers who supply these men with liquor are really helping to hasten on the thing they most dread—the decision of the people that total prohibition is the only thing to cure an evil that is being accentuated with each returning batch of soldiers. A Dunedih Press Association message states that Sister Agnes MacMillan, of Milton, has been appointed matron of the Red Cross Military Home at Mon-' tecello. She reprfsimtnd New Zealand in France as a nursing sister early in the war. < "Von Hindenburg telegraphed to the German Irish Society in Berlin: "I thank you for your kind birthday wishes. I hope that Germany's victory I will also be of use to Ireland." "My husband joined the "Red Feds a little -while ago," said the applicant in a separation and maintenance case at the Wellington Magistrate's Conrt, "and now he wants the easiest work he can find at the highest possible wages. He is so busy educating himself with a view to becoming a member of Parliament that his wife and child are in his way, and so he told us to leave the house." About six o'clock on Monday night a serious accident occurred near Fernhill, Hawke's Bay. A motor cycle driven by Mr Charles Stubbs, of Hastings, who had with him riding in a side car, Mr R. B. Langworthy, a commercial traveller representing the Lister Shearing Machine Company, collided with a trap driven by a Maori named Keefe. Both Mr Stubbs and Mr Langworthy were injured, the latter seriuosly. They were taken to Nurse O'Callaghan's Hospital in Hastings, where it was found neccssary to perform an operation on Mr Lang wot thy, whose condition is critical. Owing to changes in the staff at the Sumner gasworks' there was no supply of gas on Saturday night. The late gas manager has gone into camp, and the assistant manager has resigned. Business people were at their wilts' end to know what to do, and used hurricane lamps, candles and any other substitute they could find. Where residents were dependent on gas rings and gas stoves the situation was very exasperating. The defect was remedied on Sunday, and with the exception of some of the street lamps, normal conditions prevailed. The New Zealand war pensions total is fast approaching the million mark. Till March 31st the number of pensions granted to soldiers and their dependants was 14,477 and the total annual value of the pensions is £904,383. The average rate of pension was £62 per annum.