WOMEN'S PRAYERS

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 262, 5 November 1929, Page 9

WOMEN'S PRAYERS

AGAINST A BREWERY. DIVINE INTERCESSION ASKED. STRANGE SCENE AT OTAHUHU BANNERS CARRIED IN PROCESSION. With heads held high, shining eyos and an air of strong resolution and purpose over eighty women marched from the Baptist Church at Otahuhu this morning to invoke Divine intercession against the opening of the' new Waitemata Brewery. It was a remarkable march and demonstration, without precedent in Auckland. Before the procession started over one hundred women, with a sprinkling of men in support, assembled at the Otahuhu Baptist Church to offer prayer for the success of the mission. "No Quarrel With Owner." "Let it be understood we nave no quarrel with the owner of the brewery and have never met that gentleman," said the Rev. T. H. Eccersall. "I desire here and now to express my best wishes for his well-being. He may be a generous, genial and good moral person in many ways, but he has a 'hell of a job.' "I submit the following propositions to all thinking people who have the welfare of others at heart: — "1. Man is either an- indeterminate factor, a mere article of the world's furniture that is here to-day and away tomorrow, or else "'2. He is a normal being with a sense of accountability. "If he is such—and all history legislation and his moral make-up combine to say he is—then he has an obligation to perform to the community, a duty he should discharge. If the Church possesses no civic conscience, it becomes a mere religious club. I am surprised at the attitude of some Church people, but I remember that it was the religious- leaders of the day that persecuted, cast out and sought the death of Our Saviour. Our Mayor and council are not free of their responsibility in this matter, in our judgment. If the function of the council is to see that the people have good roads and drainage, then I have no room to complain.

"A Grave Injustice." "But if the Mayor is the chief magistrate, then his office carries a moral responsibility to the community and although the brewery is not in the Otahuhu Borough proper, it is sufficiently near enough to be both a menace to the town as well as the travelling public. The Prime.Minister has submitted that the license for the brewery was granted without the serious consideration it 6hould have received," declared Mr. Eccersall. "We, therefore, submit that a-'grave injustice has "been committed and urge that the license be cancelled even if compensation be given, and hope that the present brewers will put their money into a better form of investment that shall help forward the prosperity and sobriety of the people of the district. "We Protest." "In conclusion, let .me"challenge the present position in the light of the future. Will everyone step forward and say: 'Let me take the responsibility of all the distress, degradation and death that will be recorded on the pages of history during the next ten years?' There is such a thing as the judgment of .history, and the Prime Minister, brewers, councillors, churches and community must face it. ' Believing that to be so, in the name of God and home and humanity, we make our protest this morning. Whatever else happens, let the record go upon high, ringing through the land and down the ages: 'Wo protest."' After prayer the women formed into procession outside the church and moved off. The leader was Mrs. Lee Cowie, president of the W.C.T.U., who carried a blue flag decorated with a red cross in one corner. AH her followers wore the blue ribbon of temperance and the emblematic white badge of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. They marched in single file. Passing the Otahuhu School, many children gathered to view the strange scene. One small boy embraced the opportunity to test some of the fireworks which he had been saving up for his Guy Fawkes fire in the evening. Crowds gathered on the footwalks to see the procession go hy, and there were remarks both ribald and sympathetic. Workmen on one building cheered loudly. It was difficult to say which side they were supporting. There were all' sorts of conflicting remarks as the crowd in the main street caught glimpses of the banners which Waved proudly in the wind. "Save the Child, and You Save the Nation," "Liquor Makes Unhappy Homes; Vote it Out," and "For God, Home, and Humanity," read the flags.

Moving Picture Taken. Women with babies in their arms, young mothers pushing prams, old ladies with bonnets, old men with < whiskers smoking clap pipes, young girls from shops waving handkerchiefs, butchers in their aprons—all lined the streets to •watch the pilgrimage. At the Otahuhu monument the procession broke up and went the rest of the way to the brewery in buses and motor cars. As the gathering passed over the Tamaki Bridge, the brewery could be seen in the distance, with full steam up, and when within 100 yards, the fragrance of newly-brewed beer was wafted towards the oncoming gathering. Outside the brewery quite a crowd baa gathered, with policemen keeping a watchful eye, in Case there was disorder. It was just the reverse. The representative of another well-known brewery was interested to the extent of taking a moving picture of the proceedings. There was a blend of soprano and contralto voices, with occasional tenors and baritones to harmonise in the hymn, "0 God, Our Help in Ages Past. It was sung with intense feeling, and the hush at the end could almost be felt.

Called for Divine Aid. Then Mrs. Cowie called for Divine intervention. Amid the rumble of brewery machinery, and the occasional rattle of bottles, Mrs. Cowie pleaded to God that the brewery should be converted into a flourmill, a milk factory, or even a church. "Every boy m gaol at Mount Eden is some mothers son, and there were sympathetic murmurs or support from the other women. per cent of the people in Mount Eden to-day are there because of drink, sue said, "and we we here to- ask Uod .to » intervene."

In a big semi-circle, the women kn.V.t in the dust of the roadway in fervent prayer. Among them were Mrs. W. B. Farrard, 79 years old, president of the Auckland Anti-gambling Society, representatives of the Independent Order of Rechabites, and other leaders of the temperance movement. The proceedings were very reverent, and it was noticeable that the men in the background all removed their hats. At the conclusion of the prayers the brewery was still in full swing, with smoke drifting from the chimney, and the odour which appears to be inseparable from places where oeer Is made, floating afar. There were sad eyes and wistful faces when the women turned away from the goal of their pilgrimage.