BISHOP ADDRESSES MOTHERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 77, 27 September 1941, Page 12

BISHOP ADDRESSES MOTHERS

HER EXCELLENCY PRESENT

CROWDED CONCERT

CHAMBER

Her Excellency Lady Newall and the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, were present yesterday at the afternoon session of the annual meeting of the Wellington Provincial League of Mothers. The session was held in the Town Hall Concert Chamber, which was crowded with members of the league. Those in. the official party on the platform with the guests of honour were Mrs. Peter Fraser (wife of. the Prime Minister), Mrs. H. H. Cornish (president), Lady Elliott, Mrs. P. M. Cameron. Miss Walton (who accompanied her Excellency), Mrs. R. W. B. Young, Mrs. A. L. Wall, Mrs. R. Hogg, Mrs. G. Vance, Mrs. D. A. McCurdy, Mrs. L. V. Fisher, Mrs. M. E. Gilmour, and Mrs. S. G. Shearer.

Mrs. Cornish welcomed her Excellency as patroness of the league, as a

representative of the King and Queen, whose own family life and courage and fortitude were an inspiration to all, and as a mother. "We also welcome you," she said, "as a representative of that great .republic whose President holds a place in our esteem only second to Mr. Churchill."

A letter from Lady Alice Fergusson, founder of the league, was read by Mrs. Cornish. In it Lady Alice stated that her husband, Sir Charles Fergusson, was at that time visiting New Zealand boys in various parts of Scotland who were serving with the forces.

Mrs. Ward, mother of New Zealand's first V.C. of this war, is a member of the Wanganui branch and Mrs. Cornish said that the hearts of all the members went out in sympathy to her in this time of anxiety, and they trusted that all might yet he well with her brave sen.

"NO SPICE OF ADVENTURE."

A very inspiring. address was given by the Bishop. The citadel of all that is best in Christian civilisation, he said, was being beleaguered and assailed, and bodies such as the League of Mothers had great responsibilities to face.

"One thing I know," he said, "is that in this tragic time of war it is- the women, the wives and mothers especially, who have to bear the greatest burden of war. For them there is no spice of adventure in it such as one sees livening the faces of those splendid men 'who have answered their country's call. The monstrous cruelty of war is felt more by women than by men; for many the very light of life has already been extinguished, but they are bravely carrying on. In this respect I know that women are infinitely braver than men. In England it is the bearing of the women that is the bastion of defence."

On the mothers and wives of this, as of every other part of the Christian and democratic world, lay the responsibility of the future, continued the Bishop. Men and women had to learn the art of living in peace together; first of. all in the smallest community of all—that of the family. The family as a social unit must be safeguarded as it was the basic principle of civilisation.

He spoke of the way ,in which motherhood was being pressed as a duty on the German- girl without any hope of her child growing up within the sanctity of family life. "This has got to be met," he said, "with something more than expressions of horror on your part."

LACK OF DISCIPLINE DEPLORED

The lack of discipline in home after home that he visited was something that the speaker said appalled him. Sentimentality before common sense had become the criterion of the modern home, and it was something that had to be wiped out. He deplored the abolition by the State of corporal punishment, saying that this primitive form of deterrent was the only one that had ever been discovered for some forms of mental aberration.

Her Excellency made a brief speech, endorsing all that the Bishop had said. "The finest people I have known," said Lady Newall, "have been those whose lives were guided by prayer. As we ask for counsel so we are strengthened day by day."

Mrs. C. W. Salmon spoke to the report. Mrs. R. W. B. Young thanked the Bishop for his address, and Mrs. Cornish thanked her Excellency for hers. Flowers were presented to Lady Newall and to the Bishop for his wife. The Miramar Choir gave items. Mrs. Morrish, of Khandallah. sang solos, and Mrs. P. P. Lynch was the accompanist.