MINISTERS' ASSOCIATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9656, 12 July 1919, Page 5

MINISTERS' ASSOCIATION.

At a recent meeting of tho Ashburton County Ministers' Association the following resolutions concerning the proposed military training scheme passed by the Christchurch Council of Churches were emphatically endorsed, letters conveying this_ information being sent to the lion. Sir James Allen and the member of Parliament for the district: —

(1) "That the.Council of Churches appreciates Sir James Allen's earnest ' desire to provide for the adequate defence of New Zealand."

(2) " The Council of Churches considers, however, that tho condition of public finance and tho cost of living render imperative a 'very large reduction in defence expenditure, and that the recent victory and- the mutual Understanding of tho English-speaking races makes such a reduction both wise and safe." , (3) "That the- formation of a League of Nations, to which the Empire is formally committed, imposes on us in honour some striking cessation of the preparation for war which the recently destroyed German system imposed on the world. Sir James Allen's suggestion involves not a cessation,•" but aii expensive acceleration."

(4) "That in.the opinion of "this council the compulsory, segregation of youths of 18 for four months in a military camp would entail moral consequences for which no physical improvement could possibly compensate.". (5) "That it is essential that, the whole question bo dealt with., not by the Parliament now in existence, but by a special referendum."