A MODERN FAIRY TALEMEETING OF THE ANTIPOVERTY SOCIETY. Auckland, Dec, 10.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 430, 21 December 1889, Page 5

A MODERN FAIRY TALEMEETING OF THE ANTIPOVERTY SOCIETY. Auckland, Dec, 10.

At the Wesley Hall last evening the AntiPoverty Society's ueeting was well attended to hear Mr Hould's address. After quoting Tyndalls testimony to Carlyle in order to establish the harmony that exists between modern literature and modern science, the speaker went on to note the different spheres of thought in which the scientist and the philosopher habitually work, so that while to our Darwins and Huxleys the world was a " fact " which they laboured to analyse and describe, to our Goethes and Carlyles it was a "vision," which they strove to interpret. What we wanted to know was "How does the vision look, and what does it mean, to our best and highest men ?" Men had always ranked the thought that deals with the unseen higher than that which deals only with the visible, and rightly, because it remained for ever true that the things seen are temporal, while the things that are not seen are eternal. But, unfortunately, we were apt to forget that these unseen things elude definition, and can only be spoken of in parables, and as it were afar oth We weiv too apt to look for the same clear-cut definition of what we called {spiritual things as we were accustomed to in material things, and no such clear definition was possible. The main action of Goethe's tale dealt with the difficulty of crossing a river — the River of Time — flowing between the Seen and the Unseen, and to get a free solid communication established acros3 that wondrous River had been really the nummary of universal history, the one problem of human culture, the one thing which mankind (when once the three daily meals of victual were moderately well secured) had ever striven after and must ever strive after. Now, Goethe represented three ways of crossing that Kiver — the Ferryman's Boat, the Giant's Shadow, and the Snake Bridge. The Giant represented Superstition in all its forms, while the Green Snake etood for Thought, especially modern thought. The Ferryman represented the Priesthood of all Ages and Creeds and the Man with the Lamp typified cultured Reason, or the highest human Wisdom as distinguished from the Will -o' Wispswhich represent mere Book Learning or undigested Knowledge. The Old Man's Wife we should call Labour, representing the practical work of every -day life. Goethe represented this remarkable couple as still living in their ancient cottage, but in a very decayed condition, the Man dressed as a peasant, while the Wife had grown old and peevish, for her pet dog, poor Mops, the joy of her life, had been killed by thoughtless Will -o' - Wisps, and having been induced to pledge hersolf to pay other people's debts by dipping her hand in the Tims River, the water had turned her beautiful hand quite black, and had shrivelled it up. Fit emblem of the paralysing effect of National Debts and ground-landlordism on the labour of the world ! By the cavern and the three metal kings were typified the unfathomable possibilities hidden in the future; while the " Composite King" was the special representative of our present uncertain shambling, soft-soldered, transitionary age. The fair Lily and her unfortunate Prince were more difficult to define. They did not represent "an interesting couple," separated by cruel fortune and, after due allowance of strange adventures, brought together by some good fairy to " live happy ever after." In them Goethe picbuies man in his twofold aspect—his soul, or that faculty of him which delights in the unseen things of eternity, being represented by the fair Lily ; while his spirit, or animal life, remains in painful separation on this side. But, as Carlyle says, " Thi3 cutting up and labelling of the indivisible human soul is a thing to be avoided, for whenever it was attempted Error hovered near, often pouncing down and quite blindfolding us. Let us not, therefore," says Carlyle, "in looking at Lily and her Prince, try to name them at all." Enough if we feel that in this transitionary age man's whole being is riven asunder — that the two halves of man's soul and body are separated in pain and enchanted obstruction from one another. The lecturer then read an abridgment of Goethe's wonderful " Mahrchen," in which he depicts the interaction of the various forces thu3 personified : The awakening of thought, the death of superstition, the reconciliation of the " seen " and the " unseen," the apotheosis of reason and labour, the ignominious collapse of the composite king and the dawn of a new era. Such was Goethe's description of some of the glimpses into cloudland which met his mental gaze when he "Dipt into the future far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be." Some might say what had all this to do with the Anti-Poverty Society or the single tax, but the connection was not far to seek. Goethe's vision showed life as a passage across a stream — a transitory thins. Surely, then, we should have time to look about us as we pass. Wo should not be so absorbed in the mere struggle for existence as to have no time to think who we are, whence we came, or whither we are going. Ample leisure and all necessaries of life must be within the easy reach of all before Goethe's glorious vision can be realised, and it was to attain jor all these essential preliminaries to the "betterment of life " that the Anti-Poverty Society existed. It attacked not individuals, but a system ; not landlords, but ground landlordism—a system which ransacks the whole earth in search of the spots most favoured by Heaven for the abode of man, and wherever it tindsa good land and a large, a land of the oil, olive, and of the vine, there ifc essays to perform a juggling commercial operation which it calls " buying " the land ; not that it wants the land for any humane or honourable purpose, No ; what it really only wants and really only buys is a "taxing charter," and all unconditional Crown grants and title deeds were simply immoral and unjust taxing charters. They were the badges of the last and worst slavery of our race, for they rendered pos s\bie — nay, inevitable — the sale, not of human bodies, but of the life-blood alone, and supplied the modern slave market with the heart-throbs of destitute women and the fresh pulsations of half-grown children. What was the ground landlord to-day on bis own showing ? He told us much of his "rights"— did he ever speak of his "duties ?" No ; he was simply a turnpike man, who claimed a " right " to levy toll vr ithout owning any duty to the traveller. If modern ground-landlordism were indeed a defensible institution, then let none wonder at an age of despairing atheism, tor nothing but that, or a belief in an almighty devil, could be expected in such a world. But no ; we had no fear for the future. Truer ideas of life and duty were spreading far and wide, and there was little doubt that the end of the nineteenth century would see the end of that last and worst of turnpike men — tho ground landlord. The Rev. E. H. Gulliver was Chairman, ans an interesting discussion followed, in which' Messrs Withy, Harvie, Kelly, Roland and West took part. A valedic-

fcory address was then presented to Mr Joseph Greenwood, one of the founders of the Society, who is about to return to England. Mr Greenwood replied in feeling terms. The present officers were unanimously reappoin f ed for the ensuing year, the names of Messrs Poland, West, and Dr. Beale being added to the Committee. An interesting letter was road from Mr John Farrell, of the " Australian Standard," who h touring New Zealand in the interests of the Australian pre&s and afc the same time organising a reception for Mr Henry George. Mr Farrell writes that there are now in New South Wales more than fifty newspapers supporting the teachings of Henry George, among thorn being the " Daily Telegraph," the most influential paper in that colony, while the societies for the promulgation of his teachings number thousands of members and aro daily increasing. Mr Farreli predicts for Henry George such a reception in Sydney a 6 no othor living man would get. The Secretary was instructed to wire to Mr Farrell as to future engagements and invite him to address a meeting in Auckland on the subject.