AN INDISCREET CLERIC.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 6

AN INDISCREET CLERIC.

A telegram elsewhere gives the substance of t a remarkable address delivered in Auckland'.by. the Rev. 'J. J. North, of Wellington. Mr. North Las figured a good deal in the Press, his outspokenness on various questions of public concern winning him an amount of attention not. often vouchsafed to more temperate speakers. On the occasion under review he seems to have gone even farther than usual, and his "onslaught on the city in which he has made his home must have tickled the ears of his Auckland audience, and provided a rich, feast of gossip for the northern city. The full text of his speech I —a curious speech from a minister of the Gospel—is not gent us, "but such of his statements as are available are not of a character susceptible to qualification by context; '"' He was as; certain as that he lived," he told his audience, "that Wellington was one of the scandals of the Universe," and lie added that "the working men's children were forced to play in the streets, which were hotbeds of corruption," and " there'was a ' Kelly Gang' in the form of land syndicates and land-grabbers going round Wellington, and the sooner they did away with them the better." It is unfortunate-tliat there is some foundation for the allegations in so far as they relate to land speculation aiirl■ high rents.' Mr, North.probably could have made out a strong case, and 1 one' which woukHiave received sympathetic attention in this city had if:, been, couched in temperate terms. But his wild exaggerations,' his remarkable flight of imagination which depicts Wellington as " one of the scandals of the Universe," are so utterly absurd that they must defeat the object the reverend gentleman presumably, has in view. Mr. North .may be actuated with the best of intentions in vilifying the city of his adoption,, but he is sadly at faiut if he imagines that such intemperate outbursts as his Auckland address are 'calculated to be productive of good. Instead of leading to reform they are only likely to provoke ridicule.