MALIGNING THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 March 1922, Page 9

MALIGNING THE EMPIRE.

VREGRET OF CHUR<T n S . “MISCHIEVOUS UTTERANCE.” Christchurch, March 20. At the council of Christian congregations the Rev. J. J. North moved: “That the council of Christian congregations regrets exceedingly that prelates of the Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand should more than once have used the occasion of the Irish Treaty, which has been approved by the Parliament of Great Britain and by the Irish National AssAnbly and by the world at large, to express suspicion of the honesty of the intentions of the Mother Country and their discontent with the treaty itself, and generally tai malign 7 the Empire. The council is unable to believe that any man is a good New Zealander who defames the Empire. The council expresses its pleasure at the stern attitude of the. Mayor of Auckland. and trusts that an end will be voluntarily put to this type of mischievous utterance.”

In moving the motion, Mr. North said the resolution had been drafted by executive in connection with the utterance at Auckland on St. Patrick’s day by Dr. Liston. Such statements were calculated 'to have a disruptive effect in tbe Dominion. It made it appear that New Zealand was one country and the British Empire another. It was a source of satisfaction that Dr. Liston’s speech had been promptly replied to by the Mayor of Auckland. When discussing the treaty in Wellington some time ago Archbishop Redwood also spoke in a derogatory manner of it. When it fvas stated that a man could be a New Zealander and not a'member of the Empire, it was time to make a protest. He considered it behoved the council to back up the attitude of the Mayor of Auckland in denouncing the bishop's statement. There were many adherents of the Roman Catholic Church who were not Irish, and such utterances must cause them great concern. It was especially strange for the Roman Catholic Church to take up such a view when the Church always prided itself on being so universal. He considered that the resolution was couched in quite mild language', considering the terms of the speech. The motion was seconded by the Rev. E. Chard.

Mr. Bevan Brown said he had been filled with indignation when he read the speech in the newspaper, io stir up. the •feelings of the Empire at such a time as the present was very wrong. It hurt him to read that British soldiers had been referred, to as foreign soldiers. He could not understand how a Christian priest could countenance such a deed as the murder of two sick policemen in hospital as had recently been reported from the North of Ireland. Dean Carrington considered that the motion was too embracing in its terms. With the consent of the seconder, the mover altered the motion to delete the reference to Roman Catholic prelates generally, substituting Dr. Liston’s name. The Rev. J. Paterson said the executive had considered the question carefully. They deprecated those! people who were seeking to make out of the Irish trouble a disintegrating force in the Empire. The executive considered that/jhe question was of great social importance, hence the drawing up of the resolution. A member o-f the audience said if such a motion was passed it would effectively kill any chance there was of the Roman Catholics joining the council of Christian congregations. Dean Carrington moved that the council proceed with the next business, but his motion was overwhelmingly defeated. A number of other speakers de-N nounced the speech of Dr. Liston, and stated no doubt there w«*re numbers of Catholies who would not associate themselves with Dr. Liston. The Rev. J. Napier Milne said the resolution might be passed. Tt did not censure the Roman Catholic Church, but only the author of the speech. Personally he was meek and a man who had got into trouble because he had sympathised with the Roman Catholics on the death of the Pope. He was not a member of the Protestant Political Association, and never expected to be. Mr. North said if the Protestant Political Association had given such a statement utterance he would be just as condemnatory o-f that body as of Dr. Liston. The motion as amended was carried, with, two dissentients.