PROHIBITION.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17585, 14 October 1922, Page 14

PROHIBITION.

BISHOP AVER-ILL'S VIEWS. ' (PBESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, October 13, "Personally, I am nob technically a prohibitionist," said Bishop Averill at the opening of tho Anglican Synod today, but having; noted the terns in which tho General Synod had expressed itself ho concluded it was tho bounden duty of the Church to face such a> question as a drastic amendment of_ the liquor laws, inasmuch as a moral issu«> was at staler. Personally, ho disliked' tho principle of prohibition, and would infinitely prefer ta sco men and women living self-controlled lives where no such drastic measure was needed, but they lived under the law of prouihition in other directions, and m long as human nature was what it \vas ( it would ho impossible to havo tho ideal state in which no Ten Commandments and no prohibition ary laws were ' necessary. Looking at the question from a Christian standpoint; and giving his personal . attitude, the Bishop said: "I oanhot conscientiously vot<j for the continuance ol' a trad© which I am convinced does more harm than to my fellow-emiiures. To mo it js merely a matter of conscience, and I desire to give every man credit for acting as his conscience bids him, but it .must be his conscience, and not his inclination or prejudice." The Anglican Synod to-night debated the liquor question. The debate was adjourned,