Caught In Gift System

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31247, 20 December 1966, Page 1

Caught In Gift System

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON,

December 19.

If people approved the principle of giving at Christmas, they could hardly blame those who provided every facility for its expression, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Rt Rev. S. C. Read, said today.

Speaking to the Wellington Rotary Club, on Christmas, Mr Read said disapproval was expressed from time to time of the commercialisation of Christmas. “A plea is often expressed for a revival of the inexpensive customs which were observed before big business realised the buying potential of the holy season,” he said.

“I have never been impressed with the arguments put forward. We must face the fact that since the days of the fourth century and Bishop St. Nicholas, whose name was abbreviated to Santa Claus, the exchange of gifts at Christmas time has been practised.” Mr Read said it had to be conceded that the abundance of goods, skilfully advertised and displayed, provided a maximum of temptation. “Added to which most people are thankful that an affluent economy, in spite of warnings of squeezes, provides a maximum of opportunity,” he said. “At this time of the year commercialisation should not concern us so much as the custom which stimulates the whirl of advertising and buying.

“Now that the annual exchange of gifts and cards is nearing completion, we may well ask whether the goal is worth the effort. “The sight of harassed mothers poring over shopping lists, tired shop assistants doing their best to look

cheerful, postmen and postwomen sorting and then delivering an avalanche of mail, makes us wonder. Maybe these good people accept the inevitable for it comes but once a year.” Mr Read said that another method of expressing good will might be discovered, but in the meantime people were caught up in a system which was not- altogether unpleastnt and was not easy to escape from. “Let us be selective in our giving, and ensure that with our gifts go a genuine feeling of good will,” he said. “If it doesn’t, then the whole business is meaningless.”