AT EVERY foIASS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1302, 4 December 1911, Page 7

AT EVERY foIASS.

ROMAN CATHOLICS WARNED ON PROHIBITION. CIRCULAR LETTER. DY ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD. "A leador of the No-Liccnso party has publicly declared that if National Prohibition is carried, one of the results will be that after about ten years, no wines, even for medicinal or - sacramental purposes, will bo allowed in tho Dominion. ( As this will remler tho celebration of Muss impossible,' wo feel obliged to warn' our people against Prohibition, and warn them not to vote for it." Tho above is tho wording of a circular letter issued by Arohbishup Redwood, and rend in every Roman Catholic pulpit at every Mass in the diocesa of Wellington yesterday. Tho reading of tho messago or injunction was accompanied by comment, which, in nearly overy case, dwelt upon ,tho sacredness of the Mass, and the ■ possibility of an upheaval being brought about in an otherwise peacable community, by tho threat of interference with a sacred and important portion of tho Roman Catholic beliof. Comment by Roman Catholic Clergy, Preaching at Palniorston yesterdoy, the Rev. Father Costello, utter reading the circular, letter, stated that ho would not have referred to this matter otherwise, though, in some other Churches there, sermons favouring Prohibition (""1 been preached. The Catholic doctrino was one of temperance. Men who preached thnt wino wns in itself evil must also preach that Christ was a. bud man, as His first miracle was to convert water into wino. The elements constituting good wino and good spirits were not evil, but wero created by God Himself, and it was not their use but their abuso that tho Church condemned'. 1 Thero was no harm in taking wino in moderation, and, for those, who could not take it in moderation by their own .free will, then teetotolism was tho remedy. This was a i'reo country, and any reform should be a free-will reform, ! and not an enforced one. The Assigned Cause for the Letter. Remarks attributed to Mr. Hammond aro said to have been uiado at a meeting hold ut Ashburtou on November 18, the following report of which is from the "New Zealand Tablet"— ■ Amongst other questions, Mr. Hammond was asked—(J) If the Prohibition party contend that alcoholic liquor is ;ui ovil in itself, and he answered, "yes." ('_•) if f.o, was he awaro of the Jhroj exemption cluuses ill tho Prohibition enactment, and ho stated "Y*s, he was." (.')) If in tho event of Prohibition being carried oa. the Dominion issue, do tney (tno Prohibitionists) intend agitating for theso exemptions to bo repealed. In the first piece ho answered "No.'' But when ho was asked, "Why not?" in the face of alcoholic liquor being an evil in itself, he said, "When we carry Prohibition, a few years after we will hnvo the majority oi tho people educated to the extent that the doctors ■ will throw alcohol out for medicinal purposes; the churches will not use it for sacramental purposes (as indeed his own Church is not using it now); and.it will not bo necessary for industrial purposes. Then will como tho repeal of tho exemption clauses—in a • matter of about ten years. We havo (saysi the "Tablet") no desire to press theso utterances more than tho situation warrants. SVe content ourselves '■ with saying that tho bare possibility of ■being deprived of Mass is a prospect which no good Catholic can regard with equanimity. The Roman Catholic Strength. /As it may be assumed that the above injunction from the Roinan Catholic . clergy will influence a big vote against Prohibition, it is interesting to quote tho \nutnbor. of adherents to the Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand (as gazetted ft few days ago, and as compared with those of the other principal deppminations). They are as follow:— Roman Catholics 130,191 Catholics (undefined) 1,332 Episcopalians 411,071 Presbyterians 231,002 Methodists (including Primitive Methodists, Methodist Church of Australasia, and others) !)4,827 Baptists 20,042 Salvation Army 9,707 , REJOINDER. BY CHAIRMAN OP ALLIANCE. Archbishop Redwood's circular letter was brought nuder the notice of the Rev. ,W. 3. Comrie, tho chairman of the Executive Committee of tho New Zealand Alliance. In reply to a question as to whether ho was prepared to. mako/any statement with regard to tho circular, Mr. Comrie sa,id:— "I wish to state most emphatically I'" such a statement as has been attributed to Mr. Hamilton has never been made by any party connected with our movement. When tho last Act was before Parliament we made an express stipulation that provision should be mado for tho introduction to tho country of liquor for medical and sacramental purposes. Our campaign is against the liquor traffic, not against tho individual."