COMMUNISM IN N.Z.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 158, 4 June 1940, Page 8

COMMUNISM IN N.Z.

minister’s Allegations. SYDNEY, June 2. Rev. Dr. J. G. Inkster, of Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto, interviewed after his visit to New Zealand, said the extent of Communism there shocked him. He was surprised to find that half the at Victoria University. College were tinged with Communism. Mr Inkster added that New Zealand Presbyterians were “touched very seriously with modernism.” Sometimes it se'emed to him that Karl Marx was replacing the Bible. “COAVARDLY ATTACK.” Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 3. Referring to Rev. Dr. Inkster’s statement, Professor Sir Thomas Hunter, principal of Victoria College, commented: “I had hoped that in these days the editors of responsible papers would feel that there were good reasons for not giving wide circulation to the wild statements of Dr. Inkster. Now that they have been published all that it is necessary to say is that Dr. Inkster had no opportunity of knowing the minds of the students of this' college. He -did not publicly express liis fears while he was here nor did he convey them to the college authorities.” Sir Thomas condemned in the strongest terms as cowardly the way in which the charges had been made after l}) - - Inkster liacf left New Zealand; iiid the disregard for truth revealed in making them without a prior inquiry,or public expression. “I>r. Inkster’s reliability can he gauged bv the fact that he thinks this country is full of ..Communists, and yet Communist candidates at * elections have not yet been able to obtain sufficient support to save their deposits,” concluded Sir Thomas. An authority at'Arictoria College said Dr. Inkster’s statement was absolutely false. “A\ 7 hat is the use of answering a man who makes such a wild statement?”'he said. “So far as I know he doesn’t know anything about the college. It was a cowardly thing for him to wait until he got to Sydney before making the statement.”