THE PAN-ANGLICAN CONGRESS.

Evening Star, Issue 13016, 29 July 1908, Page 9

THE PAN-ANGLICAN CONGRESS.

NEW ZEALAND SPEAKERS.

[Feom Oub Special Correskwdint.l

LONDON, June 19. With seven sections of the Pan-Anglican Congress meeting in seven different halls in London morning and afternoon throughout the week, and with three great public meetings every evening, yon can imagine what a flood of'oratory has been poured forth in the course of the last few days. A mere list of the subjects debated would take up more space than can possibly be spared, and to summarise or even seleot from the multitude of speeches delivered during tlie week is an equally hopeless task. It has been far from easy to keep track of all the New Zealand speakers, seoing that they fiave been scattered amongst the seven sections of the Congress, and that I' have not been able to be in seven places at once. I ran the Bishop of Auckland to earth at the meeting at Sion College on Wednesday, and his speech on the ' Religious Education of the Young' is dealt with elsewhere. None of the other New Zealand delegates have figured very prominently in the debates.

The Rev. J. LI. Dove (Wellington) spoke m the debute on ' Sweating' in section A, at the Albert Hall, and dwelt on the conditions of labor in New Zealand. He said that the Dominion had been credited with much daring and advanced legislation, but one of the great reasons for the happier state o? the working classes was to be found in the sparse population. The conditions of the country were so different. Sun, air, and space did not encourage sweating. Most of the people were engaged in some form of agricultural or pastoral pursuit, those earning their living in the manufacturing world being comparatively few. But even for these few the State had been mindful, and had taken action in the Factory Aot of 1901 by regarding as a factory under the jurisdiction of the inspector any place employing two or more persons. All factories had to be registered, and the hours of labor were limited to forty-eight per week in the case oilmen and forty-five in the case of women. The Bishop of Auckland took part in the debate on 'Work Among Settlers' in section E, at Hoare Memorial Hall. He praised the people of New Zealand for their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The voluntary system which there prevailed had many advantages, but it had also disadvantages, the greatest of which was that religion loaned towards sectarianism rather than nationalism. Again, the voluntary system made it difficult for a clergyman, "hose salary depended on the willof his il; ck, to preach fully the duty of almsgiving. But the Christian churches generally had a sti'.l greater difficulty to face in New Zealand—one that arose from the secularisation of the otherwise excellent schools. It was impossible for the cnurches to make up in one day of the week for the shortcomings of these schools on the other days. He maintained that the Church at Home was still responsible for helping its children in New Zealand, yet too young to fill the ranks of the ministry with the native born. No Church could b» thoroughly vigorous until its ministry was "t an indigenous character. But in a country of only some sixty years of age, help, ni the form of personal service, from the mother Church was still wanted. The financial help from Home needed was not tor the payment of the clergy, but for the Maori Mission and for their educational work, such as the Patteson wing at St. John's College and the Girls' Diocesan School at Auckland. The so-called short service was wholly to be commended. It was good for those to whom the men went, good for the men themselves, and good for the Church at Home when the men came back.

j The Rev. A. G. Hoggins (Christchurch), speaking in tho debate on 'Work Anion" Settlers,' also dealt with New Zealand, and Said it was a hard struggle in the early days against external hindrances, but the small band of Churchmen were then earnest, devoted, united. Now, with increasing _ numbers and wealth, the fight was against apathy, indifference, jealousy witltin. &v c rousing influence was necessary, and tfie recognition of this need had led to the organisation of the " Mission of Help" from England, which, it was hoped, might be carried out in ISO 9. But to carry on the work which would be thus begun a great increase of clergy would be needed.

Mrs Wallis, the wife of the Bishop of Wellington, took part in the discussion at the Special Conference for Women on 'The Child in' Relation to Home and State.' The principal points emphasised in the discussion were that parents very often thought that the child was the chattel of the State. arid that there was a serious danger of the disintegration of homo life at "both the extremes of the social fabric, some of which among the educated classes could be traced to the growing neglect of the old-fashioned observation of Sunday. Reference was also made to the nature of the recent order of the Board of Education with regard to the medical inspection of children, while a plea was also made for the adoption of a system of insurance for children bv means of which a sum would be available "for providing outfits for them when they had to go out into life and earn their own living Mrs Sunderland, of the Waiapu diocese, spoke briefly in the discussion on 'Women as Home-makers,' and urged mothers who had sous and daughters in the colonies never to miss the weeklv mail.

How Local Option has worked in New Zealand was described by the Rev. H. -W. .Ansou in the debate at the Albert Hall on the. drink traffic. He «iid there Lid be-.-n a remarkable growth in the vote for Noliccnse. In ten years it had grown by lOC.OOO out of a total voting power o'f ?pO.OOO. Out of sixty-eight corvrtituencics t:.irty-nine had a bare majority in favor of No-license; but that principle had been carried in only four constituencies. No constituency which had adopted the svstem of No-license had gone back -upon it." Mr Arton's reference to woman's suffrage in New Zealand was greeted with loud applause- by the large gathering of ladies in the Congress. On this question, he said, though not on others, the women voter? refused to be influenced by their male friends, and went strongly in favor of Prohibition. But for Prohibition to be effective the area must bo small and homogeneous, and it must be the deliberate wish of the whole population. Sunday closing in New Zealand had been a dead failure, because it wan imposed by the State, and not left to the discretion of the localities. The real liberty of the people was the liberty to settle this question for themselves.

"I am staying now," he .said "in a parish in England where there is no public-bouse, and there aTe more of these parishes than some people think. I contend it would he in-moral to establish a public-house in that place, where people would all vote against ,it." The village referred to by Mr Anson is the village of Babsworth, near Pontefiact, in Yorbhire.

Mrs Ne'.igin. wife of the Bishop of Auckland, was present on Saturday at an "at home" given hy the president and founder ot the Mothers' Union (Mrs Sumner) to th« members of that body who are at presont iu Lr.ndon for the Pan-Anglican CongT«s. The Mothers' Union was started twenty-one years ago, and has now over a quarter of a million members. Mrs Neligan aasur< d the president and all present of the desire of the women of New Zealand to co-operate in the great and blessed work of the Mothers' Union, the object of which was to rai«e the standard of the moral and religious influences in the homes of the Empire,°and to bring every home into the service of Christ.

The Bishop of Anekland was among the Pan-Anglican quests at the Lyceum (ladies) Cl«b?n .Monday evenin g. and responded on behalf of the colonies. He said he hoped they would see in South Africa a unity as great as that to be found in the Domim'oi, of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia. He expressed his appreciation of the welcome which had been given to the delegates to the Congress, and said that one of the greatest wonders Of the British Empire was how the different national characteristics, traits, and idiosyncrasies were welded together in the sentiment of a real and earnest and devoted loyalty to the person and Throne of our Sovereign. The benefits brought about by the Congreie would, he trusted, be shown in- the improved

thought, life, and conduct of the British people throughout the whole world. During a meeting of the secular cdncat : on section of the Pan-Anglican Conference last Wednesday allusion was made to a schi rue for keeping alive among colonials the feeling that Great Britain is home. Originated by Miss A. Stratford Cox, of Schiller Plata. Dusseldorf, the plan is one by which twenty-four schools in this country and seven English schools on the Continent offer scholarships to British-born boys and girls from the colonies without distinction of cveed or competitive examination, the onlv qualifications being sound health and good conduct. Fifty of these scholar:-hips aie now open, and any colonial parent.-? who want to know more about them should apply to Miss Stratford Cox. j BISHOP NELIGAN ON EMPIRE, j RELIGION THE ONLY LASTING ! BOND. j The Bishop of Auckland preached at ' St. Paul's Cathedral on Juno 14, on the eve of the Pan-Anglican Congress, to a large congregation. He gave run eloquent ; and impressive discourse on the need for high religious ideals as the motive force in the maintenance of the British Empire, i His text was from the 122 nd P:;alm : j "Because of the House of the Lord our God, I will seek to do thee good." Bishon Neligan's sermon had special reference to the Pan-Anglican Congress of! the Anglican Communion, an assemblage ' of men and women of different rates and I colors from all parts of the world : not [ owing allegiance to Canterbury, yet linked j to Canterbury. What did it all mean?' What ripht had they of the Anglican I Communion to hold that Congress at all ? j It was the greatest event, from the point of view of discussion, that Christendom had ever known or heard of. What did that Anglican Communion stand for? Why was it in America, in New Zealand, in Australia, and South Africa, in India? Why was it outside the Empire, in Japan, on the West Coast of Afrcia? Why was it that wherever you went you found first of all that society, the An.clir:>.!i Communion? What did it stand for? He found the answer on the lines laid down by the Psalmist in the words of his text : " Because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek to do thee good.'' "I venture to submit," said the Bishop, " that except upon that principle of religion being the motive force of our intercourse with nations, whether they be in the sphere of the British Empire or outside it, our nation as a race must die out, and our Empire as an accomplishment must cease to exist. This is the only lasting principle of Empire, and is the only bond whereby the British Em pire can possibly bo kept together—the bond of_ religion. We of the Anglican Communion stand for that House nf God Going out to a young nation, feeling iff national life with all the vigor of youth, such as New Zealand : or to nations n little oldw, such as Australia. Canada and the United States—there we dare to go out and to say : ' It is because of wha* we believe this Anglican Communion car do and has done for England that v." can come to you and say : "Wo will trv to do thee good."' In giving out this message the Anglican Church is proclaiming that, because- her motive is love for the House of the Lord, she is able to go to every nation that she touches by her system of organisation, by her adhcrerc to primitive practice and Catholic custom. She is able to give to every naiion. young and old, that which T norsonnlly believe no other Christian body in the whole n world can give, the opportunity for the j freest, truest-, purest, bent, and most j stable expression of that nation's national I life. That is at any rate what this Eng- I lish Church has done for Enula-nd." j

The Bishop proceeded lo describe throe great systems of colonisation in the pant—the Greek, the "Roman, and the Spanish The Greek system failed because the prosperous colonies "learned that frightfully dangerous lesson that we of the British Empire are learning to-day, not that religion is incredible, but that it is inconvenient and unnecessary." Luxury gtcw rampant-, religion lost its hold, and ideal? wont out of the national life. Ideals having gone, materialism, that ugly monster. came in their place. And because the Greek had lost his religion, the system of Greek colonics failed. The Roman system failed because there was no independence in it whatever, and because all hope of permanence was crushed undir th? iro'i heel of despotism. The Spanish system. full of romance and great dreams, failed because in every case its religion enslaved the national life. He failed to understand how any system that necessitated obedience to a central authority at Rome could fail to have the result of enslaving the national life. It could not bo otherwise in such a system. Form Gregory, in the eleventh century, put forth the theory that the civil power was of the devil, and the spiritual power of the nation must wholly compass and bind the civil power. The inevitable result of that was that the national life must be so compressed that in a little while, comparatively speaking, it was crushed altogether. How different was the principle laid down by the unknown writer of Psalm 122, a principle whereby you could liberate the civil or municipal life, the national or Tmt-erial life, give it full expression, and endow it with permanence. It was only through the House of God that this widespread British Emnire could be kept together, and in God's .time iea«h at length that fulness of development whon the day could come which cannot yet come but must come some time, " when the nations and kingdoms, of this world shall all become the kingdoms of our Lord."