Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 525, 30 November 1928, Page 8

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

THE ASSEMBLY AND SMOKING Sir.. —* The discussion reported in The Sun last evening l , dealing with the failure of Prohibition, and touching the hardy annual, “Gipis and cocktails,” is about the limit. To me, it is akin to blasphemy for a man to say: “I . . appeal, in the name of Christ, to you all to give up smoking for the sake of the boys and girls.” x Apart from the bad taste of this statement, that portion of the Assembly’s discussion, as a whole, indicates the next step of tho Reformers if they ever carried Prohibition. We would have an Anti-Smoking Act. Expressions of the kind indulged in by the Assembly drive hundreds from the Prohibition ranks. MODERATION. MAYORALTY OF AUCKLAND Sir,— I was pleased to read in The Sun that Mr. H. E. Vaile contemplated coming forward to contest the Mayoralty of Auckland. I have no doubt he has a big claim on the community for the past services he has rendered I to our city, and that he deserves our ; support. He has a wide knowledge of 1 civic affairs owing to the positions he has filled, his profession has led him into knowledge of the requirements of our large and progressive city, and his travels abroad have given him an insight into what other large cities are doing. A man with wide experience, a son of one of the pioneers of Auckland; I have no doubt that, in every way, he would fill the bill as Mayor. RATEPAYER. GOOD WORK OF POLICE FORCE Sir, I was rather surprised to see a letter in your paper yesterday stating that ic was time the police had a cleanup ill Auckland. It seems to me that the police recently have been most successful in cleaning up crime in this city. Only last' week a gang of boys appeared in the Children’s Court to answer numberless charges; the outrage in Mount Eden Road some time ago was successfully solved; the Freeman’s Bay fire and explosion is a mystery no longer, and the perpetrator of the Ramarama outrage has been i brought to book. Given time the police may yet clear up the Great South | Road hold-up. POLICE SYMPATHISER.

SALVATION ARMY’S CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Sir. —• V>> are now coming up to that scat j S‘»n of the year when it. would make us happy to realise that all have suffi-

eient of the comforts of life to make them contented and bring about that feeling of goodwill which is so desirable. We have to face the fact that there are in this land of ours those who feel the pinch of poverty, and are more or less looking to those who have ability to assist at this time, in order to make Christmastide a really joyful one. It is still true that the poor are in our midst and they give the generous and kindly-disposed a suitable opportunity to show forth the spirit of Christian charity. The winter has been a trying one. Unemployment has been very prevalent. Only recently one of our officers visited a family of 10, father out of work, no beds, little food, and this is only typical of dozens of cases that come before us. Major Gordon frequently comes into contact with children. women and sickly men who are in urgent need, and she ma.y be relied upon to use the utmost discretion in distribution of gifts, so that the most deserving may be helped. Major Gordon is once again asking you for a, further practical expression of your love in either gifts of money or kind, so that she may be in a position to provide the needy with material requirements and thus meet their needs for a. happy Christmas and New Year. We take this opportunity- of thanking all most heartily for their generosity' in past years, and confidently look for a ready response to our appeal this year. Contributions may be sent to Major Gordon, 6 Wellesley- Chambers, Auckland. WALTER COTTRILL, Brigadier. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Sir, —- I have read the discussion carried on by Miss Ann P. Hewett and Mr. Norman Burton concerning the Christian Science statement upon sin. 1 would like to point out to Miss Hewitt the statement made by the Apostle John in his first epistle, first chapter and eighth verse: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” AVe are told that “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews, 9:28). There is therefore no greater perversion of the inspired word of God than the unChristian, unscientific repudiation of the fact of sin. Can a murderer stand guiltless, simply by refusing to acknowledge that he has sinned in committing murder? The actuality of sin was demonstrated by the Son of God “in that he died unto sin once.” God stated to Adam and Eve that “in the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die,” and “the wages of sin is death.” John tells us that “If we say that we have not sinned we make Him. a liar, and His word is not in us.” John. I*lo. This un-Christian and unscientific cult is nothing - new. It has existed in i India, a’one. for three thousand years Mrs. Eddy merely furnished it with a i new and tinselled frame. A. H. DALLLMORB.