THE REV. J. K. ARCHER.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18545, 21 November 1925, Page 17

THE REV. J. K. ARCHER.

TO THB EDITOR 07 "THI PRISB." Sir,—'The Reverend J. K. Arc-her, tbo "Chief Magistrate" of this City, early in his advent on the scene for the Mayoral fight (which he only won by the Citizons' Association's votes being split, between two candidate) sajd he believed in one man looking after one job, referring to past Mayors being also members of Parliament. But he ; was not long in the Mayoral chair before ho left the City Council job to take care of itself to go ."propaganditig" for Labour, nrso at Kaiapoi, then i farther afield at Timam. Just prior ! to the General Election ho left his em- | plovers, the ratepayers of'Christchurvli, i and took himself off to Dunedin to | speak at what was termed a ' 'Labour i Rally," and judging by results did more harm than good. According to the reports in the Duni edin papers the Rev. J. K. Archer said that tho gospel of Labour was "the only one worth preaching or worth listening to at tho present time. The Labour Partv had been called irreligious or anti-religious. . ; So far as a man's choice of religion was concerned, the Labour Party was entirely neutral, a man's religion was his own responsibility. . . In Prohibition the Labour Party took no side. . . ." No one could complain of Mr Archer's attempt to put the Labour Party right before the Dunedin electors on the question of religion and Prohibition, but in endeavouring to square tho Labour Party with the electors on the land question, ho became offensive to a section of the public. In declaring that the "Labour Party's land policy was the Bible's land policy," he continued, "the land (belonged to the people . ... To-day the land was held by the mortgagees. They did not want it held by crook-nosed Jews or by straight-nosed Britishers with a Jewish spirit." This outburst, it is not surprising, brought forth in tihe next day's issue of the "Evening Star," Dunadin, the following reply:—• Sir, —The men comprising the Labour Party in our fair city, apart from their leaders, are upon the whole so sane and 'fair-minded that some surprise has "been caused by their permitting the Rev. J. K, Archer (Labour Mayor o£ Christchurch) to intrude himself into the Dnnedin electoral contest, and to speak at the Labour rally on Thursday afternoon. Christ-church, in addition to its title of "The Cathedral City," has often been termed "the City of Cranks," and I fear that the reverend gentloman must be one of then. He certainly is not entitled to any reverence, nor can I admit that he is a "gentle man." As a preacher of the Gospel he ought to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, of whom he said "he wanted to speak with the utmost reverence"; but, while Jesus taught and practised "peace and goodwill to all men," His;. professed follower, docs 'little but abuse and malign his fellow-men. Let me quote one elegant passage from his address: "To-day the land was held bv the mortgagees; they did not want it held ty crooknosed Jews, or by straight-nosed Britishers with a Jewish spirit." It would be interesting to learn how many Jews are holding mortgages over land in New Zealand. I venture to say the number w»uld be found to be ■while, as for the "Jewish spirit''- which this intolerant pervertor of the Gospel's. teachings desires to class as - something vile, were a poll taken of -the Jewish - employers' and j their non-Jewish employees asked to give their experiences, it would be found that the "Jewish spirit" was much more in accord with the teachings of Jeans than are the vapourings of this cleric, whose behaviour is really so unelerical.—l am, etc., A, JEW." I. have often wondered why in your reports of the City Council and other meetings you ; left out the title "Reverend" when mentioning the Mayor's name. . . It is to be hoped that our Labour Mayor, who has gone to Dunedin to represent this City at the Exhibition, will curb his labour tendencies, try to be judicial, and riot offend against good taste'. —Yours, etc., citizen;