THE CHURCHES AND THE TOTALISATOR.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17293, 3 November 1921, Page 9

THE CHURCHES AND THE TOTALISATOR.

10 THE EDITOR'OF "THE PRESS." £ir.—Nov., there-lived in fi certain! country a writer of many wordb who ate his brond with joy and drank Jlis wine with a merry heart. And it was so, when the days of the. Carnival drew near, that there wm brought unto him a pamphelt which did. utter hard words concerning certain matters that wore done amongst the sfnis of num. And he mused within himself, "This thing doth greatly displease me: behold, it is the production of an arrogant fellow who haln oft been ; a thorn in my side; I will now 50 forth and sJounroMiim with whips and scorpions."' And he wmt forth. Tiu'it spako he out boldly, and said, "This man, and the men that are with, him, are altogether without underfctand''in.L;. Suroly they have no business head*. Blind lenders ara they, apprehending not that the risks of the race-co-.irso and the rb-l;s of tho house of are one. To what purpose is it. moreover, that they thould depre-i-aie this happiness and' proclaim that fnjovment is not the central law of life? - ' "Wherefore .should there be oondemnatiou of betting since the volume of evil tiiat flows from the institution is not greater than that which flows from any "human institution which tests men's stability and continence?" And havingfended all his sayings, tho ivril-Jr of many words returned unto !ais own homo in groat content. And when even was tome, behold, ho slept not for vers' joy, picturing the, plight <if tho unfortunate men who had penned the pamphlet. lint the men repented not of the, things that were written, and they had much speecli with the writer of many words. "Behold.'' they said, ''how lnrny there are that witness against thee" whoso witness is considered and i-riH;..'' And the men of the city rose up and said, "Tho palm is with the parsons; let us now contribute money that the) pamphlet .may bei distributed freetljt and without, price amongst, tho citizens. Many things have we suffered because of this evil thing-" And .so it came to pass. And the writer of many wOrd3 was wroth, and said, "Go to, behold I will mako them to see that I am right and that they aro wrong. I will forthwith put the matter to the test." So ho called together the directors and the shareholders of the News Sheet for which lie did write, and ho said unto t.'aem, ''"Wilt thou at this time, invest some considerable portion of thy capital in tho totalisator ?" And tho directors and the shareholders gazed upon him speechless, and marvelled at the words that proceeded out of his mouth. But he said unto them, "Behold, we can pick out all the winners and meosure our risks even better than thosei who go in search of oil and coal and gold. Is it not a sure thing, and wheroI m doth it differ from much of the, business that is done amongst the sons of men?" Then there arose a mighty uproar in the place of meeting, and some spake( unadvisedly with their. tongues. But the man in the chair called for peace, and when the uproar had ceased, hetlid but speak one sentence. "Gentlemen," he said, "this meeting 1 is at an end." Thtfn remembered I the words of a wise' man: "The beet way to get money is to earn it, and the best way to increase money is to spend less than one earneth." With apologies' to "Safed the Sage." —Yours, etc., J. NAPIER MILNE." Christehurch, November 2nd. [We -wish we knew what all this means. —Ed. "The Press."] ...TO THE EDITOR OF "IKB FBES3." Sir,-rl admit that I am only a poor parson,' and, therefore, from your editorial standard, both • ignorant, and foolish. As you, in this controversy, . are giving wsiy to. quotations, I offer you one from the Book of Job: "Truly ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have , understanding as well as you: I am not inferior to you: yea. who knoweth. not such, things as these P"- It is not exclusive knowledge on your part that both Mark Rutherford-and Reuben •, Shapoott are /fictitious characters,.and that the real author, both of the books sunder discussion- and of the prefaces, was William Hale White. But if you words as Rutherford's, which are Shapcott's, it is you who makes the •'howler," not me, who point out your errors. It ia no answer to 6ay that the author of both- sets of words is the same man. Take an obvious parallel. If I quote words put into the mouth of Ophelia, as words of Hamlet, surely I am not justifying my blunder by sneeringly . inanuating that someone who corrects my misquotation must l>e ignorant that .both. Ophelia and Hamlet are fictitious characters, and that Shakespeare was the real author. If you had said "William Hale White says so and eo," von would be correct. If you Bay "Mark Rutherford saya so and so," vou are. wrong, if you put.into his mouth words attributed by the author to Reuben Shapcott., As you especially impugn the Rev. J. J. North by name, I thought to make sure 83 to his knowledge of "Mark Rutherford," and nnd lie has not' only been a reader or the , "Mark Rutherford" series for the past eighteen years, but/is personally acquainted with members of. Halo White's family. I cannot remember when first I read Mark Rutherford, but it was in Dovhood, and I have often ; re-read the books since. I leave your readers to judge as to who has mace tho "howler."—Yours, etc., JOHN- J/ATERSON. St. Paul's Manse. [Even apart from the ill-temper shown in its opening sentences, this letter will not seem to the public to be tho letter of a wise or even an ordinarily prudent' man. Mr Pafierson would have been far wiser hud ho said nothing about the "howler" perpetrated oy himself and his colleagues. But tance he will have it, we quote first our reference to Mark Rutherford, and then the "howler." , Here is the passage from our article: — The members of the Council ara all, or ought to be, familiar with tho •■Autobiography of Mark Rutherford* •\Ve recommend them to read agwn the preface to till© second edition, whore they ■will find, it mot advioe whioh perhaps they way ia their less exalted uiomeiitß think applieabliß to them, yet a, soirit of humanity which they uueljt seek to sha-i* wiih the rest 01 us: 'IS wo wiah to be happy, and have to live ■with average men and women, bb most • of ua have to live, we mus-l learn W take an - interest in tbe topics which concern average men and women. This pre'aoe to this famous book is aa apnea! for charity, simplicity, and' ioler : ancc. "Many persona with refine* miad*.' the gsntie and- flirted author reminds us, "are apt to deprecate happJtesß. especially if it is of 'a low tvpo. Broadiv epeaking, it is the one thing -worth "having, and. low or high, i! it doss no mischief, is better than th* most bpiritua! misery." The authcr ends his profaoe with the quotation, •Go tbv way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works. And here is our critic's "howler" : You conohid* by challenging our krowledge of Mark Rutherford, but you quote words of hia editor, Reuben Shapcott, as Ehougil they wore Rutherford's. Is it not cbviouo that Mr Paterson and his colleagues believed when we said -'author" wo had niado a mistake. White was the author, of both the preface and tho autobiography. Is it not obvious alio thax our correspondent has merely involved himself in deeper difficulties throush his -rain belief that disdDfflenixousneaß might

tare him? It is no p'ocsure to 15 ! to point this out, but. it had to be j done.—Ed. "The Press.""; j