THE PUBLICAN-PARSON.

Evening Post, Volume XLV, Issue 94, 22 April 1893, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PUBLICAN-PARSON.

The Morning sayß : — An article which appeared in these columns descriptive of the Anchor Inn, Scaynea Hill, Sussex, owned by the Rev. Frederick Willett, and which was openud with a prayer uieetiug. has given rise to considerable discussion. The object of the rov. gentleman is to decrease drunkenness, and he has given expression to the opinion that he has found his •' proper! j'-con-ducted public-house " to produce better results in this direction than he has found effected by the work of the teetotallers. Some of the total abstinence party having expressed indignation at such a possibility being suggested, a Morning representative visited the Anchor, and bore testimony to the condition of things described by the rev. owner. The same representative has waited upon some of the leaders of the Temperance party, and appended are the statements they had to make upon the question :—: — Miss Frances Willard, the leader of the Women's Temperance Union of America, said — 'I never heard such a thing in my country as a clergyman owning a public house, and Ido not think it possible. I believe it would not be possible for an American minister to take the ownership of a public house without losing his moral status and his influence." Lady Henry Somerset said — " I regard the lev. gentleman's scheme as altogether incompatible with temperance work. To attempt to lessen the effects of drinking ia commendable and desirable, but his doing this does not establish any principle. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, M.P., said — " Oh, yes, 1 havo read a groat deal about the clorgyman and his whim, and if ho is doing the good work ho says I aui very ploaeed. Your commissioner says lie is, and ho sayho is. That ia the ovidonoo. and I believe it. What the ultimate result of hie undertaking may be re-

mains to be seen. All T can say at presont is that we had better watch and wait. When he can prove that his scheme has produced all the good results he promises, why thon we can accept his scheme. Meanwhile I cannot say much about it. All I can say is that, if a man is trying earnestly to do good work, he deserves our praise. Different people work in different ways, and results are to be judged -when we have them." Mrs. Buss, the wife of the Eev. S. Buss, vicarage, Shoreditch, who has been engaged in temperance work in tho district of London for many years, said — " Mr. Buss and I are strongly against such schemes as Mr. Willett's. Our experience in Shoreditch is that it is impossible to keep the drink traffic within bounds."