THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 22, 21 October 1907, Page 10

THE LABOUR PROBLEM.

5, ~-,, ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH. SPEECH BY-THE REV.' J.J.'. NORTH. .;.■■-. [DT TELEGRAPH.— PRESS;^SSOCIATIOJf.]',:,". 3 Auckland, October 16. ' At a men's mass meeting- in connection witli the.Baptist .Union 'Conferonce, itho'.Rov.' J. J. North, speaking on the attitude of tho Church to tho labour problem, declared it , ■ as,bis;bolief ; -that ; tho working-mail' was'tho i| only ono who had a right to boon this planet. s He was a working-man. The blood .of worko" ing-nlon was older than the Norman blood, i : ,and ; was, ; iiifinitoly more respectable ,;He,as _■'■ a '.working-man; felt- most keenly -this problems j which faced them. Every man witli eyes (. must feel them. Though tho cities in New Zealand were small, the clouds were already to appear, and when these towns became more populous they would find that the clouds then would cover the sky. City ';" Jifo was bo,mg allowed to grow up in a haphazard mariner. He came from a city whore " they had a land problem.. In-.WpHington ,th,o ' land had gono upto'such an onormous Value 1 that the ordinary citizen, tho working-man, >' onlyabl6:toTtonaut a house with a backf 'yard as -large' as a blanket, and they paid . ronts which made even Londoners open their ' eyes.;; ; ,'Mcn;-liad, / grpwn;;rich in ■; while ,others;.slept.;. ;Ho.,prpgeeded: to.; tie-, 1 nonnco the competitive systein, whichj'-'he • said, >was responsible for many of tho oi'ils • fchrit now existed'. Science and religion called '. for,something.hotter than that; hotter..than ;. the' Systein -.under "which,\if, i'maii; carilel out spotless,. _ho,,was,wondered .'at.. could,seo > how trie poor man had been fooled, and }ipw n i after half a century's, progressive .legislation '" 'iri this'land, the poor man was left as he was, ; every step in advance having been check- • mated. that ox- ' isted at-" the ''present* day , iwas" the lack of a ' proper understanding, with ,tho result that ■ they were all firing at one another but wore gotting no further ahead. Ho confessed that ' the antagonism which existed' between - the ' Church and many of the labour people was largely the fault of the Church. The Church ' had been plagued by conservatism and in- ' .toloijinco, neither of should exist. ' Then it had blunder by ' being too slow to movejintellegtually, but this 1 had not always been 33i0" case;, The Church ' had once shown the pathway, .and lie hoped ' she would do bo again. JWhen he heard it stated that the Church wasfftho ally of the existing state ofvitlirngs, of land monopoly,, the competitivo-sjjTstem',;etc., Kis blood boiled. Ho believed of Christ they much towards social . problems. lifl:h'fifelij';tlia'fc&'e'-;OHu'rch could not assist thon ' J ho would-b^■■dt).ne^ntli'Jh'fe , r..'gsliey should- ondeavour to creajte^a', Opinion, ■ : without which dvcrytliiiigtj-would ~-gp—wrong. The golden year^,Sy& : £c(Jmin'g, 'and it was coming along and self- ■; sacrifice, which ■tfie i dhijrcjr£ through Christ, could do so mucfiiio induce/"- If the Socialists wished to succeddj they could only do so by tho aid of that'moral enthusiasm whjch Christianity supplied. (Applaueo.) -The Rev. J. C. Martin, of Christchurch, believed that Jesus Christ was revered among tho Socialists to-day/, and thisi ho thought, ' was one of the" most promising signs 'of'the movement. Socialists said ■ that- if tho .. .Churches-carried out. the principles,'of .the (Sermon 'on the Mount, then thoy, would believe dominating i^ei' : 'of i 4th^t , jSerrtfoit.? 'It,, aro tlie<.p'ureiJin-'.heai : t}'i' ! ahdihe "urged' thorn to strive.and.be so. If they acted on such Jirie.s.. and, pulled; tbgether:'thdy .would reach 'their goal the soonorr.'(Applause.) ; . .i',v<riyc;? f -yrfi"~~~~ , ... ' Sr.,-; aiif ;