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The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1878.

A few weeks ago, when the representatives of the Presbyterian Chnreh of New Zealand were sitting in Wellington, the subject of a more rigid observance of (he Sabbath was freely discussed. Outside the clerical circle the matter did not appear to be of much interest. This we are sure was in no way attributable to any laxity of views amongst the people on the sacredness of the day set apart for rest, but simply resulted from the belief that there was little to complain of in this community in regard to Sunday observance. The country districts were largely drawn upon by the divines as affording shocking examples of the horrible depravity of the settlers in ignoring altogether the sacred character of the day. One clergyman informed his hearers that it grieved him to state that in many districts of the North Island with which he was acquainted the settlers looked forward to, the Sabbath as a day on which to transact business. If a horse or cow had to be bought, or any other arrangements to be made, it was sure to be put off to that day; whilst as for the country publichouses, they were the scene of a roaring trade, and drunkenness, obscene language, and all evil practices were the order of the day. There is no doubt that the reverend gentleman overstated the case. Still there is large room for improvement in the country, and matters in this respect will improve as the sound of the “ church - going bell ” is more generally heard in the land. The homes of the settlers are not “bowers of innocence and ease,” —particularly the latter, —such as the poet delighted to sing about. There is rough, hard, and earnest work to be done. The heavy toil, coupled with isolation, somewhat blunts the sense of reverence. Owing to the isolation of those engaged in the bush, little neighboring influence is brought to bear to check any breach of the duo observance of Sunday. No public opinion, even in the most limited sense, prevails, and there is no visible symbol to fix the attention of the observer and inform him of the day. We do npt for , a moment suppose that the settlers of New Zealand are greater offenders in the . matter of Sunday observance than the pioneers in other new countries. They are laying the foundation for a larger population and a more advanced civilization in their respective districts ; clearing the way for the clergy and the churches of.the future. The Puritan settlers of New England wore accustomed to place in the pillory and to crop the ears of those Sabbathbreakers who were unlucky enough to bo caught flagrante delicto. But the colonists of New Zealand are men of different and more enlightened views, and wo are very much mistaken if history will not show them to better advantage than the narrow-minded, intolerant, though Sunday-observing Puritans who settled the New England States. On the whole, the people of New Zealand, from one end to the other, are both religious and lawabiding ; and there is really little reason to complain that Sunday is not properly observed. We were led to the above remarks by an account which appeared in a Melbourne paper of a deputation which waited upon the Minister for Railways of Victoria with regard to the running of railways on Sunday. The deputation was introduced by a member of the Legislative Assembly, who remarked that, in the opinion of the majority of the people of that colony, the running of trains on Sundays was an infringement of the civil rights of the people, who looked upon Sunday as a day upon which they were entitled to enjoy an immunity from labor of any kind. This is certainly a different argument from those generally used on such occasions. We are sure that it has never occurred to a single individual in this city that the running of trains to the Hutt on a Sunday was an infringement of the civil rights of the people. If the mass of Victorian colonists are, as Mr. Nimmo says, imbued with that belief, they have, struck out a new idea on the subject, and one at complete variance with the views of the inhabitants of other parts of the world. The same argument has been used in an opposite direction. It has frequently been urged that it would bo unjust to one section of tho people if tho trains were stopped running on a Sunday at the dictation of those who hold puritanical views on the subject. Wo think it would have been better if the advocates for discontinuing the Sunday trains had adhered to tho : old religious arguments, and urged that the practice of allowing traffic on the railway lines on a Sunday had an, immoral tendency, as loosening the respect for the Sabbath. ■ It appears ■ that goods , are carried on a portion of the Victorian railways on Sundays, and to this the deputation were justified in objecting, as it would involve a considerable amount of Sunday labor. Mr. Nimmo, speaking on tins point, said one of tho arguments against the sincerity of the opposition to Sunday traffic was that religious people used the railways on Sundays to take 1 them to church. Ho pointed out that the use of' the trains for such a purpose involved the saving of tho labor of cabhorses and men, and there was a distinction, therefore, to bo made between passenger and goods traffic. A very wide distinction, indeed, though the Minister of Railways appeared to think that the lino drawn was a very thin one. Wo can see no more desecration of tho

Sabbath in using a railway engine than any other means of conveyance for passengers, whether they are on their way to church or not. In fact, according to the ' number of passengers carried, less labor is employed on the railway than by cabs. One lay member of the deputation evidently held very extreme views on the subject, for he stated that he had no sympathy with those who went to church by rail on Sundays. His sympathies are certainly not very wide, and his narrow views gave Mr. Woods, the Minister of Railways, an excellent handle in replying to the arguments of the deputation. He said no man in the community valued Sunday more than he did, and his appreciation of it was not a theoretical but a practical one. “He knew what a Continental Sunday was like, for he had been in Brussels, Prussia, Saxony, aud parts of France. At Liege he saw business in full swing at ten o’clock in the morning. He did not like this. He had also been in Scotland, and he must confess he did not like Sunday in Scotland cither. He thought there was too much of .what he might be allowed to call a superstitious regard for tiie Sabbath in that country, and great offences wore condoned in the case of those who showed a superstitious reverence for what they called the Sabbath.” The last observation of Blr. Woods isonly areiteration of the freq nenlly alleged hypocrisy of those Sabbatarians who are the loudest in their denunciations of those who are not of their way of thinking. They “compound for sins they are inclined to, by damning those they have no mind to.” Mr. Woods said he could not see any difference between a gentleman’s coachman driving him to church on Sunday, and an engine-driver taking him to church in the railway train. Most sensible people will agree with Mr. Woods so far, but will not follow him when he states that he could see no distinction between carrying people to church and carrying goods. “If he recognised any distinction, i t would be in favor of carrying wood and food to a quarter of a million of people.” If it could be proven that it was absolutely necessary that the food should bo carried on a' Sunday, there would be few objections; but that was not urged. If waggoners are restrained from plying their vocation on a Sunday, it is not fair that goods should be carried on tho Government railways. We have noticed this matter of trains running on a Sunday in Victoria, because now and again an agitation is raised in this colony on the same subject, and it is well to see how the question is treated by our Australian fellow-colonists. We will conclude by the following sensible, remark from the Victorian Minister of Railways:—“lt would be well for the deputation to boar in mind that we were not going to have a puritanical Sunday in Victoria, and they might also rest assured that it would be equally impossible to establish a Continental Sunday among English people.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18780122.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5251, 22 January 1878, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,474

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5251, 22 January 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5251, 22 January 1878, Page 2

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