MOTHERS' UNION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13903, 30 November 1910, Page 3

MOTHERS' UNION.

♦ j ANNUAL MEETING OF CANTERBURY BRANCH. The ninth annual meeting: of the Canterbury branch of the —others' j I Union was held yesterday afternoon, in tho rooms of the Girls' Friendly j I Society, in Gloucester street. His • Lordship Bishop Julius presided, and I ! there was a largo attendance. . 'The report and balance-sheet, which wero taken as read, were hopeful in tone, and revealed steady healthiness j of work. Receipts amounted to £4t | Os Id, and expenditure to £39 14s 2d. j leaving a credit balanco of £7 5s lid- : Bishop Julius, in opening proceed : ings, said that no one could fail ot sympathy with any society founded for the promotion ot healthy family life., nnd it was because the Mothers' Union helped in that direction that it had his very hearty support. He regarded the family not as a human institution at all, but as divinely established. A healthy family life lay at tho foundation 'of all national (greatness. It was not to force of arms, but to healthy family life thnt ancient "Rome owed her greatness, and it was only when family life deteiiorated that she began to decline.. Ay.d it was so everywhere. Bishop Julius went on the refer to the great changes that had gradually come over English family life. He said the first cause of change was economic in character—the growth of industrial organisations. In the old days trades were carried on by the whole family in the home. That was not all for good, but it kept the family together. This system was replaced by the factory, which, with its absence of sound restrictions tended to break up family life. Then came .great poverty, such as England had never known before, nnd which she had not yet escaped from —the poverty that one saw in slum life. Family life was impossible in the slums, and it was useless to preach it. There were no slums here, but there were homos in Christchurch where family life was not very comfortable, and could not be made very comfortable. A good deal was required to turn a bandbox of a cottage into a family home. Then there was the growth of the democratic spirit, which had been partly for good and partly for ill. It had been for ill where- it laid stress on individualism and thfrights of tho individual. It had broken up family life and destroyed the reverence that belonged to it. and the result was that family life was not so easy* now. A good deal was snjd nowadays about Socialism. Some time ago tho leaders of that movement in Germany were opposed to family life, ar.d declared it to be an obstacle to human progress. There had been a change, however, in this attitude of late years. Bishop Jrlius went on to say that thero wore advanced Socialists in Chnstolnireh, but he did no* think they held the opinion referred to. Tncy tho'u.ht, however, .that tho family led to the evils of division and solnshn- -.*. Bishoo Julius, continuing, characterised tl"..> family as the one Treat means of training and developing the human i-ne«'-. as the one great school where children could learn those tilings which were necessary to them in after life. Unselfishness could not be learned in a school, it must "be learned through association with brothers and sisters. If the home principle and homi? trainins were ever done ay."ay with, it wou'd be "all up with " the race. Th<* Rev. H. T>. Burton, in moving ilie adoption of the report and balancesheet, characterised the Mothers' Union as one of tuo finest and "best '

institutions in the Church. Tha obieet ot th-Uni a. Ii« said, was to strengthen and widen tho mother's influence by accontuatin_ tlie responsibilities of , motherhiod. Whatever militated tlie sanctity of home life military d r-.gninst. the welfare of th" nation. Ho rMerred to the gift of intuition possessed by women, and to it.-, importance in tlie formation of character, and went on to say that the Union drew mothers to something better than intuition, namely to prayer. He referred to the importance, of example in training children and to the danger of criticising in fronl of them. The Rev. Mr Powell, in seconding tlie motion, spoke of tlie h"lp the Mothers' Union w?.s in country districts. He referred with approval to th? fact that a donation had been sent by the Union in pnswer to an appeal in the London "Spectator" for funds to help in the suppressing of impure literature. The report and balance-sheet were adopted. The following officers were elected: — Vice-president, Mrs Go<=sett : secretary and treasurer, Mrs Kirk pa trick. A vot:> of thanks to M'ss Rachel Eos' l , for netin. as organist at the services on Festival "Day. and to th© speakers, concluded tlie proceedings.