THE METHODIST CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 1 July 1907, Page 4

THE METHODIST CONFERENCE.

To the Editor. Sir, —I dou'l Uiiuk i am au ill LUc abuvo a* to write lo Mi- Di'wkc direct J'or intormaiion as he suggests in his letter; but, willi your kind [ninnisftiuu, should like to make oue other cummeut. Jvlr Jjrouke must surely have replied to my uute in a hurry or he would have remembered thai local preachers are iairiy "permanent/' and sometimes the Stewards stick a long time in oilice —in they "work well with the minister' -and the most permanent of ail to the minister, tiiiiisell, who lias power to refuse any resolution, ami vacate tlie chair if lie pleases, and 110 other chairman can be elected. When one remembers Uk-se things surely he cannot heip a smile when he thinks of the great con(TSMon granted by the Conference. The evidence of haste iu „\Lr Brooke's reply la also seen in the following: ly lite whole of the Church membership can 110 more sii at the board ol management than the whole of the burgesses can sit at the borough council." The analogy Is exceedingly poor, The whole of the members of the council are elected by the burgesses, whereas the great con- < to democracy granted by the Conference will result iu about one iu twenty of the members of the quarterly meeting being elected by the church members themselves. The absurdity of the analogy is proved by the fact that there are many churches where all the numbers have tlie right to sit at the board of management. The members of the J-'ree Churches possessing this right in \*ew I'iymoiith must have smiled at (he slip of the ex-i'resideut of the Wesley an Methodist Church. Or is it that Mr Brooke ii so hound up in his own church that he doesn't know that there are churches which give their members the right of managing their own affairs as well as of subscribing the funds? In other Vnrds. the right of choosing their minister as well as of paying hi;r his salary.--! am. etc., DEMOCRAT.

CHARITABLE AID MAXAUEJIEXT. To tin) Kditor. Sir,—We arc so accustomed Id read in tin l local press ol' the splendid management 01' tlie hospital ami distriliiiticm of charitable aid. and are also somewhat nauseated with the fulsome llatteiy lieMowed 011 the ofliiials of these institutions. that it becomes necessary to 11 su the columns ot' your widely-read paper to see whether such metaphorical "pats on the hack" are re,illy justified. One instance (and I am told there are many .similar) came to my knowledge to-day. An application for firewood was handed ill to the secretary of the Charitable Aid Hoard 011 Friday, June 14, and up to !l o'clock this morning it had not been delivered, -lust imagine. Sir. being without living such weather as has prevailed the last fortnight. The should-]® recipient is a poor, hard-working woman, a widow, with four little children to snppnp.; and lcllict, Sir, for a moment wli.it tlie sulTorings o fild? poor family must have been during this time. If you will kindly allow nie this free advertisement I shall be obliged: '-Jf the lirewood is not delivered within twenfy-four 1 hours more will lie heard of the matter from Wellington."—l am, etc., June 27, 1907. ALPHA.

A representative of this paper called at the board's oii:. * to enquire into llii* complaint. Mr keppcr, the secretary. located the recipient of charitable aid, only one Jjaviiipr applied for iirewood recenily. lie denied that the application was made on June 14. and stated the eorreel date was June 21, a week later than alleged by our correspondent. The wood, he said, was ordered by telephone a couple of days afterward*. On receipt of a message on Thursday morning the secretary rang up the firewood merchant and found that tie wood had been delivered. This recipient of aid receives 14s per week, and this is spent as foli lows tor reliel: Meat, 10s per month; ! milk, lis 7d; rent. Jlis; bread, (is 7d; groceries, ]{>:; -Id; besides firing. On top , of this she is able to work, and does so. , Kecently. when she was in need of a doctor, the secretary called in. and spiil Dr. Walker, the board's physician, to attend \wv. /Hie sei-ivlavy added Hint be passed the door twice daily, and if 1 hero weiv any complaint to make it could easily have been brought itnd"i* his notice. On a recent visit the lu-fpcrtoMJem-ral of Hospitals recommended a reduction in the amount of aid mi veil in lliis ease, but the board declined to do so.