MINISTERS AND MILITARY SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3096, 29 May 1917, Page 6

MINISTERS AND MILITARY SERVICE

v ' .SEVENTH BAY ADVENT.TST'S ■■ ;"' . AVPEAL. ' By TeleerapU—Press Association. Christchurch, liny 28. Before the Military Service Board today ,the'hearing: of the appeal of i'raucis Harold Letts, on behalf of. John' Thompson, a Christchuvch minister of the Seventh Day Adventistj' Church, was .Continued. . - ' Mr. Johnston, who appeared for the ' appellant, eaid it seemed to him that an attempt was being made to ;;et over the , case on general principles by merely .avoiding it on the ground of the small p number of adheiehto of the Church and correspondingly large * number of n-.inis- ; ters. "Without notice to vs, arid behind ■ our' backs, representations were ma.le to ,itho Minister, and he cancelled tho certificate," declared Mr. Johnston. Outside the 300 members of the Church there 'were many adherents ,*ho were not counted. He believed this was the first occasion in an appeal by a minister for the authorities, before granting a certifi-' cate, to inquire thi number of members of aa appellant's church. He submitted that the cumber of members of the Church doi not matter in the slightest. The responsibility rested uipou the head of the Church in statin;,' thut the man's calling up was contrary +o public in- I ■ teiest. ■ \

Cecil -Kenneth Myers, aa ordained minister of the Seventh Day Adventists' Church, said he had been deputed by tho Church Conference to give particulars to the board. K the appellant had not (been called up he wonJd have been appointed to'the Nelson district, which embraced a wide aren. A person before being admitted into the Church had to be of adult responsibility. There were several adherents of the Church who ■were not classed as members. They had been trying for a year or more to secure ministers from Australia, where thei'3 vras-'a superfluity, but the Government would not allow them to leave the country.

Mr. Johnston sulimittfd that H>e Church ,had no more ministers than its needs required, considering the extent of the country that had to be covered.Either these applications should I>p granted or the-wlwle thiiig wiped out as a farce.

The chairman said they could only take the law as they found it. ■ .

Witness said they woudered why they Tiad been asked to produce evidence as to the Strength of their Church, whmi no other Church had been asked to do it. Their people Lad a conscience in their ecclesiastical offices.

' Major Greshon submitted that a small sect, enjoying the benefits of the State, could not in tliese days lira in a, secluded manner, unaffected by the war. There was no objection to thp exemption of a properly ordained minister, but Mr. Thompson -was not properly ordained, and therefore'should be treated on a lower plane. Mr. Thompson was just a licensed church worker, and to grant him exemption ivas to grant Seventh Day Adventists a greater degree of exemntion than any other church.

Mr. Johnston eubniilted that if exemption, was going to be granted to Presbyterian home missionaries and not, to Mr. Thompson, the board wou.ld be acting differentially.

The chairman said thev would take time to consider t-Jie matter.

: RHEUMATISM IN THE JOINTS. Rheumatism in the joints is due to excess uric acid. This forms into crystals and naturally these cause unspeakable torture at every move—just as if you put. ground gta nnder the eyelids. *To cure rheumatism, you must eliiuinnto and remove these Tiric acid ervsfals—and KHEUMO does it. P.HEUMO enters the blood and works from within. Inpurifying the Wood and driving the uric acid from the svstetn. EmbiWfiHfw n r lotions cannot do this. . Try 7?FEITJfO —the proven cure. ps. fid. and 4«. fid. Nt chemists and stores.—Advt.

Two wkr shrines presented to the parish of Whitechapel, E., through the London "Evening News," were dedicated on May i.