“THE DOOM of COMPETITION.”

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 42, 13 January 1894, Page 3

“THE DOOM of COMPETITION.”

Mr Stopford Brooke was once described as the finest preacher in the Church of England. On conscientious grounds ho resigned the post of Queen’s chaplain, and gave up his prospects of promotion in order to enjoy perfect freedom. He has since gathered round him at Bedford Chapel a largo and attached congregation. On a recent Sunday morning Mr Brooke —who has lost none of the force and fire which, in the days when he preached in the dingy little St. James Chapel, attracted the cream of society and the culture of the clubs—chose for his subject “ The Lock-out.” He said he had no hesitation in declaring that in the struggle between the coal-owners and the miners, “love, self-sacrihce, and justice were on the side of the miners.” He spoke of the history of trade unions as “ a long history of self-sacrifice,” of which the action of the associated miners was only the last example, and he strongly supported the demand for a living wa°e —“a wage that would enable the workers to live decently and happily under certain conditions.” In concluding a very striking address, Mr Brooke (reports a contemporary) startled some of his hearers by predicting that eventually the State would be compelled to acquire the collieries, and he believed that even now the doom of competition had sounded.