"A YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 5, 7 January 1928, Page 12

"A YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY"

(To the Editor.) Sir; —Will you allow me a little of your space to refer to the letter of F. G. Dalziell appearing in your issue under the above heading. It all reads well with regard to co-ordination, and one appreciates some of the ideas expressed, but is there not a catch somewhere in the last paragraph? Do all the sentiments voiced for the Empire, and the people of New Zealand, conceal v quiet thrust at the movement for the "Bible in the Schools Bill"? (coupled with Prohibition, a totally different issue). Docs it not seem an inconsistency to quote the words of the Bible, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," etc., and at the same time to debar the children from any regular teaching or reading of these truths, or of the wonderful life-example of the Saviour Christ? Why not practice co-ordination in the State educational system, and develop the child threefold (spirit, soul, and body), as Nature and Providence intended? Here is a fine opportunity to spread the Gospel message referred to by the writer. A very large majority of the parents desire the proposed change in the school curriculum. After all, if a cause is worth anything it is' worth fightiug for. It is simply a straight, clear-cut issue. Can we call it justice that a small minority against it should over-rule the others? The words '"bitter sectional conflict," now worn bare, are unuecessarily alarmist, as the conflict so much dreaded is only a myth. I should like to refer to many passages in the life and work of Hudson Taylor, the great evangelist and missionary, showing the power and inspiration he drp-"- f>- O m. the daily and constant use of the Bible.— I am, etc., LEONE.