COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

Evening Star, Issue 14520, 21 March 1911, Page 3

COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

About sixty members attended the quarterly meeting of tbs Council of Churches last night. The President (Rev. 6. K. Smith) was in the chair. He referred to the sympathy of the Presbyterian Church with the Cquucil,, and. expressed: the hope that before the end of the year other Churches would come in. Mr Driver was called upon to lay before the meeting the matter of the celebration of the tercentenary of the English Bible. He mentioned that it was suggested that the last Sunday in April be observed in New Zealand as Bible Sunday. A committee had prepared the following report:—“ In celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the completion of our authorised version of the Bible, we recommend; (1) That all the Protestant churches within the. city, and suburbs be requested to observe the last Sunday in April (30th) as Bible Sunday, and that tho ministers preach then on some aspect of the history, character, and influence of the Book which has done so much to shape our national life. (2) That special addresses be given in the various Sunday schools dealing with the same subjects. (3) That a great united gathering be held in Knox Church on Tuesday, May 2, at 7.3o—Chairman, the Very Rev. Deau Fitchott, as representing the bishop; speakers—tho Rev. P. W. Fairdough, on ‘The Ancestry of the Version’; the Rev. Professor Hewitson, on ‘The Literary Excellence and Religious Value of the Version’; the Rev. William Saunders, on ‘The Influence of the Version on the History of the Empire ’; the Rev. G. Knowles Smith, on ‘Our Responsibility for the Circulation of the Scriptures in Our Own and Other Lands.’ (4) That Mr Paget Gale and Knox Church choir be requested to furnish music for the occasion, and that a souvenir programme be prepared. (5) That the collection, above the expenses incurred by tho meeting, be devoted to the funds of the Otago Bible Society.” Mr Driver also mentioned that there was every prospect of the whole of the churches of the Cityr, apart from the Roman Catholic Church, joining in the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary. The report was adopted, and it was resolved that the matter of the souvenir programme be placed in the bands of Mr H. H. Driver, Rev. W. Gray Dixon, and tho Rev. G. Heighway (secretary). The Rev. W. Saunders reported as to the steps taken by a sub-committee to consider the desirability of something being done for the deepening of tho spiritual life of the churches'—lt was resolved to refer the matter back to the sub-committec to arrange details. „ , ~ On the motion of Rev. W. Saunders, it was resolved—“ That the Executive be asked to arrange for meetings in connection with the Coronation of the King.” LICENSING LEGISLATION. Mr A. S. Adams addressed the meeting on licensing legislation, and explained the purport of the Bill passed last year. As introduced, the Bill was not the Bill of the Temperance party; it was a Government measure and there were in it good and bad points. He confessed that if the measure had remained in anything like the shape in which it was originally it would have been the duty of the Temperance party to have fought it tooth and nail in the Hi'is-e, and if it should have been passed into law it would have been their duty to cast aside every other thing to .secure its repeal. It was only right to say, further, that as a result of his close observation during nearly seven weeks he spent in Wellington while the Bill was before the House he was satisfied that the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General and other leading politicians were sincerely desirous of doing what they conceived to be right in the matter. He said they were doing what they “ conceived ” to be right, because he recognised they had as much right to give expression to their views as had those of the Temperance party to express theirs, and where they differed they differed sincerely. While the Bill was before the House there was a good deal of misapprehension as to the purport of proposed amendments, and a feeling more or less of uneasiness with regard to the loss of the Reduction vote. There was no question that in the experience of the Temperance party this vote had proved of great value.—(Hear, hear.) In the cities, and particularly in Dunedin, the vote bad achieved great good.—(Applause.) But there was another side to the matter. It was apparent that the vote had practically reached the limit of its usefulness to the Temperance party, and tho time was either upon them or imminent when it would he a real menace to their further progress. The nearer they got to the goal the greater was the risk of loss owing to the interposition of a middle issue, and they had reached that point. The few thousand voles cast for Reduction at the last poll meant the Joss of two electorates to No-license. In Waitemata they were within a fraction of 1 per cent, of winning, and that fraction was much more than represented by the Reduction votes. In Hutt they were within a fraction of winning, and again the Reduction vole very largely outnumbered the necessary number of votes required to win. Assuming that half of the votes of those “sitting on a rail” in those districts had been given to No-license, those two districts would have been No-license districts for tho last two years. As for the three-fifths majority, he believed that Parliament would have been prepared to concede a substantial reduction m the majority if it had not Been for the fact that a number of members bad g;ven pledges to their constituents that ihiy would not disturb the majority during this Parliament. Some of their best friends m the House were tied by pledges of the kind. He thought, however, there was every reason to believe that one of the first ads of nfxt Parliament would be to right what was now looked upon as a grievous wrong. Tho leaders of both parties had stated in Parliament that they considered the present handicap on the Temperance party unfair. The Bill also provided for Dominion ProhJdtion, which was the most important step in advance that the party had been able to make for tho last seventeen years.—(Applause.) The Executive set their face against the proposed single voting paper, and practically presented an ultimatum upon tho matter, and in the Act, as passed, the issues—Dominion and local—were separue. The parly cry of “Strike out the top liiio” still remained in force as to both papers. The provisions of the Act were complete with reference to the counting of the papers; there was a provision which pteven.ccl the increase of wholesale licenses—(hear, hear)—and tho provisions with reference to the Restoration vote were put on a more intelligible baris. There was a misapprehension in the in nds of some people in regard to one matter They were of the opinion that if Dominion Prohibition were carried, then, ns it din not come into force for four years and seven months, a General Eleeiou would come in between, so that there would he an nppoitunity to reverse the rerdbt of the people. But that was not so, for no poll was to he taken again until three years after the people’s decision had come into effect. The result would be that_ they, would have five years’ experience of National Prohibition before any reversal could be brought into operation. and in that lime the reform would be thoroughly tested—(Hear, hear.) The abolition of bottle licenses had also been Brought about.—(Applause.) Mr Adams referred to a number of other provisions of the law, and ridiculed the contention that a hotelkeeper could not open his door between closing hours and next morning to admit a traveller. All publicans were innkeepers, and they mast provide refreshment and lodging for travellers, and the fact that a traveller arrived at five minutes past ten did not interfe-e with his legal right to refreshment and lodging. “It is the most impo.lant forward step m the direction of reform,” said Mr Adams, referring to tho Act, “that has been secured from the Legislature or the last seventeen years. If gives us an opportunity which is an unparalleled opportunity in English-speak-ing communities. We have » chance at the next poll to carry, if ih* peop'c will, tho great issue of National Piohi'jiMi.i, and of testing once for all tho truth of the pnnciples which we have been advocating so long.”