SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1914, Page 7

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

SERVICE IN CHRISTCHURCH ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL. PROTEST AND BISHOP'S REPLY. • (IT TELEGRAPH— SPECIAL TO THI POBt.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The gathering in the Anglican Cathedral, where the Rev. H. Money, a wellknown Labour sympathiser, conducted a service for Social Democrats, has drawn a protest from a Reform quarter. The suggestion is that Bishop Julius was misled. This is denied by the Social Democrats and the Bishop himself. When Bishop Julius gave permission to the workers for a, special service in the Cathedral he visited the Trades Hall and handed to Mr. E. J. Howard, secretary of the Genera] Labourers' Union, a letter conveying the permission. At the time he had a conversation with Mr. Howard about the matter, and yesterday Mr. Howard talked to a Star reporter with reference to the statements made in the Press about the ignorance of the Bishop. "We made no secret of our intentions when we asked for permission," said Mr. Howard. "When Bishop Julius came to see me in the Trades Hall on Saturday wo talked over the matter, and X made< it clear to him that the service was wanted because the men were religious. I told him that the men would include atheists, agnostics, Weleyans, Roman Catholics, and members of all religions and of no religions. We asked for the ssef vice in an absolutely open manner, and the Bishop was not cheated. Our position was made absolutely clear to Bishop Julius, and he knew that we wanted it to say good-bye to Mr. Money, and to hear him preach in the Cathedral. The attendance was a distinct success. The Cathedral is the most central church, and it is the people's church, and we consider that we had as much right to have a service there as in any other building in the city." The Bishop told & reporter that Mr. Howard had made it quite clear to him the reasons why permission was sought for the service. "So the statement is not quite correct?" suggested the reporter. "I don't know what the Press means in its article," he replied. "I haven't read it all." ''Mr. Howard says that he told you the workers did not 'want the service for the purpose of worship, but to say good-bye to Mr. Money," urged the reporter. "That is" true," said Bishop Julii^s, "and you may say this. When a private -application was made to me for permission to hold a service to bid farewell to Mr. Money, who was to preach a sermon, I declined ; but when the application was made by a considerable body of men for the use of the Cathedral for a sermon to be preached by one of my licensed clergymen, I consented, and I wtiuld always consent under the same circumstances."