POLTICS FROM THE PULPIT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 244, 12 October 1908, Page 3

POLTICS FROM THE PULPIT.

'-■'- ! '': ; '"I i, ' __». "'' C___t&YMATTS EX_RAO;__D_SARY '. ■^^.''-."____x_at_6nß." \h±k KEEPING DOWN THE CRIME RECORD THE ILL _______ OF CLASS ______ ! (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) PAl_____TON" NORTH, this day. The Manawatu Mounted Rifles 'held their annual'church parade yesterday. In the course" of an address, the Rev. C. C. Harper, vicar of All Saints' Church, said that of late years it had been, the custom to assert -that crime was rapidly decreasing in New Zealand, but the governor of one of the gaols had informed him that it was ridiculous to say crime was decreasing—quite the reverse. The gaols ■were full, and many of the convicts were colonial youths. He' had also been informed by the police that they were exhorted only to arrest people and obtain convictions when unavoidable, as, otherwise, our criminal statistics would "be unsatisfactory, and we would get a bad name. In other words, we had shut our eyes to crime, and refused to see it, and then said it did not exist. In reference to the commercial, industrial, and financial position of'the country, he said he believed that generally our laws were good, and on the right lines. He considered th_t wage earners should have a' larger share in the profits of .heir work than was often the case in past years. Employers and property owners were-often simply selfish possessors of money, and gave an entirely inadequate return to those who helped them to earn t heir money. We had by legislation altered this very largely, and .the rule of the property class, which was often (__t by no means always) a selfish rule had given place to rule by" the wageearning class, which also too often, and generally was purely selfish rule. We bad not got rid of class domination, we had merely transferred it from one class to another, and it was still exercised with disregard of the need of .those outside that class. The result' was twofold. First, the class possessing capital had withdrawn it to a great extent from the country, and the class below the ruling class found themselves cut off from avenues of work, and was face, to face with chance earnings, and an enormously enhanced rate of living. If this country had determined to live by attracting capital from the Old World, and to -regulate the coat of production without regard for the markets of the world, which it could not influence or control, it might do so, but we must take the consequences and rise to our responsibilities. "But what was happening?" he asked. "Our representatives by a course of misrepresentations and concealment of the truth of the industrial position out here, _Te attracting to our shores hundreds and hundreds of single men and women and families. These poor deluded people arc given to understand they are coming to a country of high wages, cheap living, abundant work, and unprecedented prosperity; and to-day they are in their hundreds up and down the Dominion struggling with poverty, disappointment and wretchedness, and are cursing the day they set foot on our shores. Our prophets in England are prophesying falsely, and our people here love to have it so. And what is going to be the end thereof? A year or two ago several spoke out in this way, and they were howled at, not because what they said was untrue, but because they said it. At the bottom of this evil is selfishness and pride. However, we have created it; we 1 are all responsible. What are we going i to do ? While the markets of the world i were propitious what our representatives I said of us was in the main true; now that those markets are not propitious,] and depression is the result, and the I statements of our representatives are | false, are we going to allow these false | statements because our pride is touched? And yet I see no effort on the part of | responsible men to contradict them. Are | we going to cling selfishly to what wo j have gained and let those drawn to our shores by thepc false statements continue to suffer?" Continuing, Mr. Harper said he saw effort on the part of men in power locally 1 or generally to apply themselves to re-! lieve .halt suffering. The financial and 1 commercial aspect was not 'h_ business, I bii-t the moral aspect was, and he declared I solemnly that this shutting of our eyes 1 to the true position, this rerusal to recog- j nise our responsibility, and to sco our selfishness was a grievous moral wrong,! and fraught with much danger. I In conclusion, Mr. Harper said: "_et us not be like Israel and Jwdah of old, and refuse to sco our bod points and the weaknesses of our country; but let us than God when these arc brought to our notice, and humbly examine ourselves to find out in what degree we aTe individually responsible, and how far arc we ruled merely by selfishness or pride."