CHURCH RAFFLES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3907, 14 February 1929, Page 1

CHURCH RAFFLES.

“It is frequently said that competitions and raffles ,at church bazaars are really harmless since ‘no one really cares whether he wins or not —it is only a way of giving to a good object/ ” writes Canon Peter Green in the Church of England newspaper. “If anyone really believes this nonsense, let him try an experiment that I tried some years ago. I had promised to open a bazaar ,on condition that there was no raffling. But a man had presented a doll’s house, which he had made himself, and which certainly could not have been bought from a shop for under £l2, on .condition that it did not go for less than £5. i\ o one could pay that sum, so I was asked to waive my objections and to allow it to ,be raffled for 40 half-crown tickets. I was assured that po one really cared whether they won or not. I .replied, ‘Then let 40 people subscribe hal/f-a-eroiwn each .and we will give the doll’s house to the children’s ward of the county hospital. I will be the first to give half-a-crown.’ I forget whether they got live other gifts of half-a-crown or live counting mine. I know they could not get any more. The opener the next day said (he had no sympathy with my narrow-minded attitude, when tlig object was so good, and they had a raffle and the tickets sold so well that they reached the number of 60. All this talk about no one caring whether they win or not is sheer rubbish. The only sound rule for church efforts is that everyone who spends five shillings should leave the room with five shillings’ worth of something.”