Citizens Say

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 361, 23 May 1928, Page 8

Citizens Say

(To the Editor.)

“A BURIAL SERVICE” Sir, Your correspondents, “Civis” and “Ex-Contractor,” have written of the peccadilloes of our City Council. In future ticket cliques should be illegal, and resort should be made to the ward system. If that system had been in use at last election, the present chaos would not have resulted. Is it likely that any commonsense ratepayers r%r:i authorise a loan for baths in the face of the bungling of which they have such ample evidence? As to a rise in salaries, are these the kind of times to warrant such an act ? All ratepayers should determine to set their faces strongly against further municipal folly. How can ratepayers be expected to vote money to a council that nobody has any confidence in? The council has preached its own burial service and the ratepayers will be the undertakers, and the sooner the better for all concerned. DISGUSTED CITIZEN. LIFE AFTER DEATH Sir, Sir Arthur Keith, when making the announcement of his scientific research on this question, only spoke as a scientist. Most correspondents, so far, have ignored the scientific viewpoint; and, as is usually done, write from two viewpoints—the scientific and spiritual —without much thought, real concentrated thought, to either. I personally have long since dropped the parasitical idea of hanging on to another to solve some problem that I know I must solye for myself; for it does not matter a rap to me what the other fellow believes. It is what I can prove and know for myself that counts with me. To me there can be no doubt that once the brain is dead, or ceases to function, there is nothing left to prove that spirit or soul exists. The only part the brain plays is that it is that part of the human machine by which we attract thought and build it into expression. But it is part of a machine only, and when all other parts of the machine go is goes; when the machine fails it fails But there is something far and away beyond all this that applies to soul and spirit. JAMES TOOMATH. MEMOIRS OF MARY BAKER EDDY Sir, A copy of the letter on the above subject, which appeared in your columns over ttie signature of C. Bennett during my absence from town, has just been handed to me. I shall be obliged if you will grant me space for a reply. Whether Mr. Adam Dickey’s account of what he claims to have witnessed is correct and correctly reported I do not know, but Christ Jesus said: “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also,” and raising the dead was one of those “works.” As to the charge made against the directors of the First Church o£

Christ, Scientist, in Boston, of suppressing Mr. Dickey’s book, the following fact may be of interest: A book of 159 pages, partly devoted to a biography of Mr. Dickey, was compiled by his widow from memoranda and manuscripts left by Mr. Dickey. When the church directors were apprised of the book and its contents they asked Mrs. Dickey to withdraw it, and to this she agreed. lam informed that “the directors disapproved the book mainly because it was unjust to Mrs. Eddy. It was unj’ust because it failed to present anything like A complete or balanced view of what was normal and usual in her life and work. Much of the book was given to human characteristics and trivialities, while it contained ccmpaxatively little concerning Mrs. Eddy’s transcendent wisdom; her steadfast reliance on God, her enduring love for all mankind, and the infinite care and patience which actuated her daily work as the leader of the Christian Science movement.’’ Since Mrs. Dickey held the copyright of the book she published, it will be understood that the directors could not suppress it, but as its publication contravened one of the by-laws of the church, of which Mrs. Dickey was a member, they rightly sought to have her withdraw the book from sale and use, and her consent will not deprive Christian Scientists of anything they need to know about their leader, since she heself wrote: “Those who look for me in person, or elsewhere than in my writings, lose me instead of find me” (Miscellany, page 120). MADGE BELL, Christian Science Committee on Publication. Auckland, May 21, 1928. BURKE AND WILLS Sir, — I was surprised to read in The Sun of May 19 an account of the Burke and Wills expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Victorian Government went to a gTeat expense to fit out the expedition, and as it turned out it was a failure. Their official start was made from Essendon, about six miles north of Melbourne, in 1861. I think it was in April, but I am not sure on that point. When they reached Cooper’s Creek, I suppose they did take a rest to fit themselves out for the long tramp they had before them. The explorers proper made their start from Cooper’s Creek, which was also their depot. Now, you mention only two men to leave Cooper’s Creek to cross Australia—Burke and Wills. What about King- and Gray? Both these men were with Burke and Wills. Why are they not mentioned? Both King and Gray crossed Australia in company with Burke and Wills, so it is hard to say who were the first white men to cross Australia. Gray died of dysentery on his return journey to Cooper’s Creek, and after the other three reached Cooper’s Creek and found the men they left behind gone, King joined the blacks, and he pulled through. He wanted Burke to do the same, but Burke would have nothing XCantinued in next column)

at all to do with the blacks. The "V ictorian Government sent out an exp - dition to look for Burke and found both of them dead. Then there were meetings held, and another par was sent to look for King and • • Thev found King with the blacks, an he showed them where Gray ™ buried. Gray also received a public funeral, and the Victorian Govenunem gave King a handsome pension lor I saw the expedition off, ana i 17 Gray’s funeral. I vras Just about years old when the expedition Carpentaria. R Bayfield Road, Herne Bay.