LOYALTY OF BRITISHERS

Evening Star, Issue 18053, 22 August 1922, Page 8

LOYALTY OF BRITISHERS

ADDRESS BY REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT. , COMMUNISM CONDEMNED. NOME OPPOSED TO NATIONALISM. Under the auspices of the local Protestant Political Association an address -was given in. the Early Settlers Hall last . evening by v the Rev, Howard Elliott on •Disloyalty, Revolution, or Bntjsh Government: Loyalty and the Red Tact The hall was packed to the doors with an enthusiastic audience, who frequently applauded the speaker during the hour and a-half tfor which he held the platform. Admission, by special ticket only, was confinedl to members and- their friends. The Rev. S. G. Griffith (president of the local P.P.A.) presided, and, in briefly introducing Mr Elliott, said that if there were any who had' donbt as to the virility or growth of the P.P.A. they would certainly have those doubts dispelled' by the great attendance present. The P.P.A. was the strongest political machine in the dominion. If they were seeking to weaken the interests of any other section of the community, then there would he danger in the strength of the association. _ The P.P.A., however, stood for British justice and.' for equal rights for all. He paid a tribute to the work and personality of the Rev. Howard Elliott (the dominion organiser), whom they were especially glad to welcome back to Dunedin. They were Eteful that he was so for restored to Ith as to be able to take up the reins of office again. (Applause.) . . The Rev. Mr Elliott, who was received with much applause, expressed his pleasure at seeing such a very large meeting, which represented members and their friends. It was wonderful how their friends on the other side were fond of scandal concerning him. Their Otago president (Mr Griffith) was getting a taste of the same thing. Since coming to Dunedin he had learned accidentally that they had made Air Gntfith a co-respondent in a divorce case. (Laughter.) Protestant men and women of Dunedin, however, knew that Rome here was the same as Rome anywhere else, and that the attempt to attack the moral character of a man was part of an attempt to weaken his influence. Thej could tell the circulators of such stories that they were liars. One of his coming to Dunedin was to appoint Mr Griffith the assistant lecturer for the South Island and to leave himself as free as possible to work the North Island. It was hoped Mr Griffith could see his way to accept the position. THREE KINDS OF LOYALTY. They all knew, continued the speaker, what loyalty and) disloyalty were. It was difficult, however, to define those terms. Lovalty was something greater than fidelity or allegiance to territory or people or a flag. Loyalty meant that they had national spirit, that they believed in the British nation, and were proud to belong to it. That was the loyalty that had taken our young men to the front—the loyalty that meant devotion to the ideaJs of the Empire. There ■were three different kinds of loyalty being offered to the electors of New Zealand to-da\. There was Romanist loyalty, Bolshevik loyalty,, and British loyalty. The acid test for them to apply was to find which was the Protestant loyalty of this Protestant Empire cl puts. (Applause.) They had to find if a candidate was loyal. If he was not. they should not only vote against him, but work against him. (Applause). ROME AND BRITAIN. There was the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church that loyalty to the Pope came first and loyalty to the Chnrcn next. National pride and national epint were secondary considerations. Rome was the enemy of nationalism. It claimed that national pride and national spirit ought not to exist. According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church we should forget we were Britishers and become Romafi Catholics and nothing else We would never do that. The British Empire had drawn the hatred of the Papacy because it was a great Protestant Empire. Since the signing of Magna Charta, when the Barons forced from John i-a-eir freedom and their rights, the Pope had hurled his anathema against that document and declared it null and void. All Britishers however, had been free and independent of the rule of the Pope of Rome. Rome had lost its hold over the British Empire. Rom© had attempted to break up the Empire for over 500 years. Her last attempt was in Ireland. What was her attitude during the war? Was the voice of anv Roman Catholic ecclesiastic raised in loyalty? (A Voice: No.) Did they call their people to a national spirit or a national pride or endeavor for the war. He freely and gladly admitted that there were Catholic young men educated here who willingly went to the war. But they were not Alarist Brothers. The Black and Tana had been maligned by Rome until many Protestants believed them to be a set of scoundrels. As a matter of fact they had proved themselves fine representatives of the best British ti adit ions. They had stood firm without_ touching their arms while murder was going on all around them because they had been ordered to do so. If it bad been “Aussies” and New Zealanders in such circumstances' there would have been something doing. (Applause.) Every week the editor of the ‘Tablet’ delivered bis soul about the daily papers and warned his readers that what the papers said was lies. The murder of Sir Henry Wilson was one of the blackest marks within the Empire. Sir Henry had refused to shake hands with Air Lloyd George because he had shaken hands with murderers. Had some of the leaders at Home had the spirit of Sir Henry, there would have been less trouble in the Empire with regard to Ireland. (Hear, hear.) P.P.A. AND LABOR. The P.P.A. was not—he would state it clearly and emphatically—opposed 19 legitimate and sane Labor. As long as he had a voice and as long as he had strength he would light Bolshevism and all the Red crowd in New Zealand jnst as he fought Rome. (Applause.) He had sympathy for all those unionists who were determined to secure for themselves the best the country could give them. He believed unionism was one of the finest of modern instruments. It had accomplished marvels, and would. lie believed, accomplish a great deal more if it was not ruined by Bolshevism .and- Communism. The Bolshevik was as much an enemy of unionism as anything else. The Bolsheviks hated the British Empire because they called it a capitalistic Empire. They hated the Em- ; pire because, in the words of Lenin, “ it is tho centre, support, and pillar of capitalism, and if Communism spreads all over the world the British Empire will be destroyed.'” Air Holland, Air Fraser, and all his kind had no time for the Flag. Their loyalty was loyalty to one class, and they did not consider the rights of anv other class. The' speaker quoted from Socialisttext books said to be used in Australian Socialist schools passages ridiculing the idea of Heaven and passages preaching hatred and violence. The loyalty of these people turned in the direction of haired of all who did not belong to their class. In dealing further with the Official Labor Party, Mr Elliott said that during the recent election at North Dunedin Mr Holland had given an address at Ravensbourne so soft and sweet that people thought be was hardly different from Air Massey; but let them not bo deceived by any smooth utterance. These men were teaching hatred of Protestantism and of all religion—the gospel of hatred and of force. FLIRTATION WITH REDS. The “once great” Liberals had also been indulging in a secret flirtation with the " Reds.” They bad all been surprised recently to find that the remnants of the Liberal Party, with a few exceptions, were prepared to don the Red necktie in order to climb back in pdwer with the aid o! Rome and with the aid of the bookies; for he believed that the names of the two men whom Air Wilford so carefully screened and that were fto. iightly. .torched on. by, Mr

Holland were representatives of the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association. Fortunately, the facta came out, and the oircumetanoes had given a severe jolt to many Protestants who had been Liberals. WOMEN AND BOLSHEVISM. If the women of this country understood what Bolshevism had done for women in Russia, and threatened to do hero, they would fight it like fiends, lest it should come upon them and upon their daughters. Air Holland would deny it, 'but he (Air Elliott) had spoken to men who had 1 -been in Russia and who had seen. Tho women were taken to ,a common place, and men walked in and picked the one they wanted. The women’s children. were treated as farmers treated cattle. Thov were herded up as the property of the State. Womanhood in all its dignity and in all its glory disappeared under Communism. . . • That was the thing they would fight to the death-. (Applause.) THE FOOTBALL SCHISM. Mr Elliott referred .to tho action of the Dunedin State School Sports’ Association in confining the football competition to the State schools. The school teachers in Christchurch had eliminated the Alarists, and in Auckland the teachers had just missed eliminating -them by one vote. Next time that vote would not bo there. It showed that even where men were concerned only with sport they recognised that the boys of that school were not a desirable, clement in tho schools of the community. That feeling would grow, and Rome would have only herself to blame. Rome had cursed and-blighted every land in which she had ever ruled. In proof of this he ’quoted the fall of Spain and of Italy. We knew what Romo had done in England and Scotland, and how our land bad grown and thriven since we had got free from her. We would never lot her come back, nor would we let the mad gospel of Leninism drive out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We turned our faces to the light, and looked to the day when- our people should be yet more free and happy. He urged them to stand for the Flag and the maintenance of the Empire and the Protestant throne, and to fight with all their might the enemies of the Empire. That was what they .must do,at the coming election. _ Ho trusted that nil .Protestant Political Association men and women would stand and work together. (Loud and prolonged applause.) NOT A PARTY INSTRUMEN T. In answer to a question. Air Elliott said the P.P.A. had no connection with any party whatever, Tiiev were not pledged to support tho Reform Party, and ho was as free to criticise Air Massev as he was to criticise, any other politicaTleader. The P.P.A. was not free, however, to support any man who supported Air Holland. (Applause.) On the motion of Air Theodore Arnold, a vote of thanks was accorded Air Elliott for his address.

The meeting concluded, as it began, with the singing of the National Anthem.