HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 119, 15 November 1935, Page 3

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

♦■ J i Mrs. Knox Gilmer presided over a | meeting of: the general committee of ' • the Wellington Horticultural Society, ( ! held yesterday. There was an excel- . lent attendance. \ In connection With the enforcement r '' of the Native Plants Protection Act, 1934. the .Commissioner of Police ad- | ' vised that there had been two success- • ful prosecutions in Wellington under ■ this Act and satisfaction was expressed : • with this action and the steps being taken to carry out the provisions of ( the Act. It-was decided to get into touch with , ' the Main Highways Board, City Council, Wellington Automobile Club, and . the Tararua Tramping Board for assistance in. the conservation of native ' flora. i Mr. H. A. Fox (treasurer) reported • that on a recent visit to Auckland he '. 1 had been invited to officially open the Auckland Society's Rose Show, and it. ' was decided to forward a letter of thanks for the compliment paid to the ; Wellington Society. ;" Arrangements were completed for ' the Rose Show to be held at the Town ■ Hall next Wednesday. The hall will • not be available to exhibitors until " Wednesday morning. Afternoon tea will be served in the main hall. j ii THE PARABLE OF THE 1 TALENTS

* :— "With much regret (writes D. McLaughlin) I am compelled to assume a critical role towards the conclusions of the recent Presbyterian General Assembly, principally to the Rev. Mr. Dickie's assertion to the effect that the parable of the talents was proof of j Christ's 'sanction to the capitalist system.' . . . The religious leaders of the Jews had sanctioned money-making and multiplication of talents, under the auspices of the Temple, but Christ did not sanction it. Capitalism is based on the absolute ownership and use of property, i.e., the principle that 'one can do what one likes with one's own,' and that one should multiply his money talents as best he can, without the slightest reference to the law of Christ. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and Kis justice.' In the Parable of the Talents, it will be noted that the talents which the servants had received were the properly of their i master—not their own; they merely • held them as a trust (in the moral, not ; capitalistic sense of that word), and they had to account for their stewardship. This moral trust and responsibility of stewardship is just the very , thing which modern capitalism rejects. ... By rejecting the Rev. Mr. Martin's ■ excellent motion declaring our present capitalistic system as being opposed to the mind of Christ, the Assembly has furnished Communism with a weapon I to flog, not 'honorary' Christians who | exploit the poor, but Christianity itself —which is blameless."