STREET MEETINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 78, 2 April 1900, Page 2

STREET MEETINGS.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Mr Parr has my hearty thanks for introducing- the bye-law on street disturbance. I have the misfortune to occupy offices immediately over a favourite spot for street preachers, etc., and I can assure the Central Mission that the annoyance is very real indeed. It is my frequent' custom to spend the evening- there in the endeavour to get a quiet spell free from interuption, but the advent of a discordant band which plays turn about with men and women often makes work impossible and drives me out of my own office. 1 don't think this is right,—l am, etc., HENRY H. METCALFE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —In answer to Mr C. J. Parr's leter in last night's issue in which he states that those engaged in open air preaching are under same misapprehension as to the contest of the new by-law to regulate street preaching, he tries to make us believe it will not interfere with us in any way. Now, sir, I beg to differ. We have a bylaw now in force which I contend is sufficient to answer all purposes as far as religious services are concerned at any rate, and it appears to me that this is what the new bylaw is . aiming at. The Salvation Army for seventeen years now' have been carrying- on open air work, and many a man and woman have been rescued from lives of debauchery and sin and made into g-ood and useful citizens by this organisation. Seeing- then that such a good work is going- on in our midst, saving the colony perhaps some hundreds of pounds per year, are Aye going- to curtail their efforts and harass them and interfere with their liberty for the sake of a few who have suddenly fount! out that the various meetings inconvenience them slightly, for while one is seemingly annoyed, numbers are helped and cheered and blest. Let us remember that these men and women are our fellow citizens, who, numbers of them, after a hard day's work spend their evenings, without any remuneration whatever, in trying- to uplift their fallen brothers and sisters. The present by-law works very well indeed, and I sincerely hope Mr Parr will take the advice g-iven by Mr Heady, and let well alone.—l am, etc., GEORGE CLARK.. Karaiigahape .1 load.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I notice in'last night's "Star"' | a slight controversy re by-law to ! prevent open air meetings in the city. i quite agree with Mr Ready. I, too, i know how the Duneclin Act failed. It' there was a necessity 1 should agree with it, but there is no necessity. Let /'Common Sense" show where an open air meeting- is conducted in such a manner as to need a by-law to regulate it. He cannot find one. In reply to his rambling remark that nearly every city of any consequence in the colonies has such an one. (by-law) I should advise "Common Sense" to make sure of his statements before he rushes into print.. Seeing that I have visited nearly every town in Australasia, both large and small. I am in a position to answer that question. Take Melbourne, it has a by-law that prohibits a procession in Burke-street. That is all. If notice is given 24 hours previous to the demonstration an escort of police is supplied to keep the traffic clear. Sydney has no by-law preventing open air meetings, neither has Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Ballarat, Bendig-o, Geel'ong, Bathurst, Broken Hill or any of the ordinary sized towns on the Australian Continent. He says if open air workers were disturbed by any company they would be the first to complain. If the Council would like to know how the b3'-law elsewhere has worked, let them write to the Mayor of Ballarat, who some years ag- o at the instigation of the sergeant of police prosecuted the Salvation Army. They got a month each (12 of them, including some leading- church membeys). Then they appealed, the

Army winning the case. The next report of the Council showed that £100 had ben lost over the case. I trust tthe Council will look before they leap-1 am, etc.,

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—The City Council is to be commended for passingl n by-law to restrain persons conducting or participating in street meetings from making themselves a nuisance to their neighbours or the public generally. Everyone of us that has not his or her ' judgment warped by religious fervour must admit that the noise and annoyance caused by the street meeting's in our city are very great and most trying to our aesthetic and musical feelings. Not only to these but to invalids are these meetings a cause of annoyance and possible danger. A lady friend of mine who has been recently so ill that she was not allowed to speak to her friends was repeatedly annoyed by the visits of an open air gathering to the corner where she lived and much suffering was caused by the shock to her nerves, enfeebled by her illness. All theatre-goers should certainly endorse Mr Parr's action in advocating such a by-law, as from my own experience as a play-goer I can say that these open air meetings at which singing and playing- are conducted "when night darkens the streets" are a terrible nuisance. Just in the middle of a most interesting scene or passage when the audience listens most intently there will come a crash of horrid sound from the open air gathering, presumably religious, as if Pandemonium had broken loose. If the leaders in these demonstrations (generally called religious meetings) could olily know what anathema and execrations arise therefrom they would refrain and would endeavour to convert the heathen or give vent to their ecstasy in a more seemly form. I remember well hearing Hemenyi, the well-known violinist, some years ago in the Theatre Royal (now the City Hall). At a moment when the large audience listened breathless and entranced with the magic sweetness of the maestro's art the Salvation Army band passed by. The angels might have feared to tread tiptoe at such a time, but the band of "blood and fire" marched on, leaving- behind in the minds of many feelings of disgust and anger which are still in my own case painful to remember. Uemenyi himself stopped playing and waited till the last shadow of sound had dissipated and proceeded. As 1 read it the by-law will not prevent open air meetings, but will merely regulate, them, so that they shall not become a nuisance to neighbours or to other assemblies of citizens in the vicinity. To this I think no fair-minded charitable man can object.— l am, etc., ANTI-FAD.