MR HOWARD ELLIOTT

Evening Star, Issue 18137, 29 November 1922, Page 2

MR HOWARD ELLIOTT

"THE ENEMY WITHIN THE GATE." " MYSTERIOUS " ROST BOX FIRE. SOME P.P.A. VOTING TIPS. Tho Early Settlers 1 Hall was filled last night with an audience who listened attentively to, and frequently expressed approval of, a characteristic address delivered by Jlr Howard Elliott, Mr 3. G. Griffith presided, and the proceedings began with the emging of a verso of the National Anthom. . “ PECULIAR HAPPENINGS.” The Chairman, in the course of hk opening remarks, aaid that there had been Borne peculiar happening® in Dunedin within the last few days.-* He referred to the mysterious fire- in the letter box at the old Ptost Office, which, he said, had occurred 1 a few minutes after a large quantity of P.P.A. matter had been posted l there. He would not lay any charge against anyone, hut ho had his suspicions. He also mentioned the matter of the appearance of the Commercial Travellers' Club Choir at the Catholic Carnival now being held. This, he said, had been twice advertised without the permission of the choir, who had eventually sung on the second occasion, but only under great pressure. The speaker's nest complaint was anent the street collection for orphans by “ camouflaged Roman l Catholics who got money from Protestants for their own orphanage,” presumably on the assumption that the collection was for orphanages generally. TEE GILCHRIST INCIDENT. Mr Griffith then mentioned, as a joke against himself, the incident of the night before, when he had at a meeting at R-a-vensbourno made references to Mr J. Gilchrist which were really meant for another man. This other man, whom he had taken for Mr Gilchrist, h;vd hold several conversations with him during the past couple of yearsj and had expressed himself strongly m regard to the P.P.A. and its officers. He was astonished when the real Mr Gilchrist stood up in tho ball, and the experience was a very humorous but rather disconcerting one. “Of late years,” said Mr Griffith, “my sight lias not been too good, which might account for my blunder.” The chairman then reintroduced Mr Elliott. PROTESTANT INFLUENCE. Mr Elliott began by expressing gratification at the sight of such a. large gathering of Protestants on the eve of an election. He had been twice over the dominion within the past, three months, he said, and had addressed in the smaller towns some 8,500 people, and he could tell them that the unity of Protestantism was greater to-day than it had ever been. The influence of the Protestant vote at the coming election would, he. added, be greater than ever. He intended to speak that night on ‘Tire Enemy Within the Gates and a Use for Political Votes.’ “WATCH THE ENEMY.” _Mr Elliott, alter eulogising the British Navy ao a factor in dealing with the enemy without the gates, went on to say that there was as great a need to watch the enemy within. This enemy was, on the one hand, Rome, on tho fdber hand the Bolshevik, tho Re if Fed, the Revolutionary Socialist, or whatever he .might he called, who stood, for the overturning of British institutions and planting in their stead institutions not British. Thus wo had the danger of tyrannical ecclesiastical bondage on the one hand and of the Soviet or claee rule on the other. There was, therefore, great need for watchfulness, need to be armed against and to fight and repulse the enemy within the gate. The P.P.A. was the Largest and most widelyorganised institution in the country that was out to contend with and repel that enemy. The P.P.A. was not held together by mere denunciation and tho exposing of the weaknesses of the other side, but by a great conception of what the British Empire was and what Protestantism was, and chiefly by the great devotion to Protestant liberty and Protestant freedom and all Unit went with it. The Australian Catholic Press told us that, the enemy within the gate was the Masonic Order, and tho ‘Tablet’ in Now Zealand had no more flattering regard for that! order; but ho (the speaker) would show 1 that Rome and Rod Labor were the real enemies. Romanism, which seriously contended that Protestants were not Christians, was the most Intolerant of all religions. And in matters of .politics Romo was as intolerant ns she was in religion. She had no conception of the tolerance of Nationalism. She sought, to destroy Nationalism in tho interests of un.iversalisin. If it was a question of his country or the Roman Church, then the Roxna.it said: “To hell with the country.” Any 1 Christian organisation holding such views was an enemy within any fiMo that it entered. It was not a nuestion of tho right of tho Roman Catholic to worship in his own way, hut one of intolerance,' disloyalty, and antagonism to our ideals which Romanism had brought into our common life.

“PRIEST RULE.” Mr Elliott went on to detail matters connected with tho prosecution of one of tho heads of the Church for alleged sedition and tho utterances of another regarding Sinn Eeinism ; also the attitude of the Roman Church concerning marriages by Protestant ministers. Roman dufliueaoo and priest rule, he said, had ruined whatever country it had gained a footing in,_ Ho instanced Spain and Austria, and also quoted! tho North of Ireland as an example of prosperity brought to a. country by an influx of people from outside, and the South nad West of Ireland os an example of the barren and poverty-stricken conditions resulting from a continuance of purely Irish control. The speaker next road extract* from the ‘New Zealand Tablet,’ which held up to obloquy the country we live in, and which £avo a long list of wrongs from which the inhabitants, especially the Catholic inhabitants, suffered. STICK TOGETHER. Protestants, men and women, he said l , had to stick together qnd vote together. They wero gradually growing stronger, and would continue to do so so long as thev stuck together. (Applause.) He repeated that there was withm their ggte an enemy —a church directing its vote and clever organisation in the matter of politics towards certain things that wore to its benefit. He advised them on election day to strike out the names of those men who could not be trusted to be true to Protestant principles. THE ENEMIES. Tho Roman Catholic Church Bought to gather to herself perquisites, concessions, and privileges costing thousands of pounds every year - . If Rome continued her campaign of disloyalty and insisted upon her doctrine that eve 17 Catholic should first bo loyql to the Church and then to the King,” tho time would come when this country would again pass an Act ruling every ”Roman Catholic out of any public position. It must not bo forgotten that our forefathers had found it necessary to pass such ft law, and if Romo challenged them again they were prepared to lake the same atop and enact a law providing that no Romanist should hold any public office in the country. There was within our gates a force which was subtly gathering to itself political power on similar lines to the temporal power, qnd it was part of the doctrine of that Church which said that the Poj>« was Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The P.P.A. was striking at enemies whom it could not trust to be true to Protestant principles. THE “EEDS.V The P.P.A. was not antagonistic to Unionism. The other enemy within the gate was the Bolshevik or Red Flagger or I.W.W. or Communist or Social Revolutionary—the name did not matter. Anyone acquainted with the evolution of industry must realise the tremendous value of unionism and organisation amongst men, which was for the benefit of the men themselves and of tho whole State. The P.P.A., however, had an unfaltering declaration of enmity a,i>d war against those who, in order to attain their own ideale, desired to destroy our civilisation and over-

throw our institutions. The extreme Labor Party had 1 a right to their own opinions and to voico them as they chose; but while tho community gave them that liberty it would bo very foolish if it did not realise that they hqd declared 1 themselves the enemies of tho Empire and tho flag. The statements now being made by the Labor Parly were made with tho object of deceiving electors, their real eenthnente wore disclosed m their speeches in Parliament. Mr Holland, leader of the Labor Party, said that no man was of any value unless he was an extremist. The people of Dunedin did not want. Empire-, wreckers to represent them, in Parliament.. (Applause.) Here in New .Zealand, he said, they had this enemy within the gate declaring for the overthrow of our system. It was not a question of freedom and rights to organise, but of the safety of one Empire.. All Protestants had to vote together and with all the enthusiasm they could to keep “ Red ” out of control. (Applause.) Between Romo the one side and “Red” Labor on the other, they had a curious combination. Tho whole Roman vote throughout tho country would go with the “Reds.” PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES.

The P.P.A. had taken into consideration the men who were candidates for Parliament and' had asked ad members of tho organisation to support tho men endorsed bv, the association for Dunedin and tire surrounding electorates. The candidates supported bv the association were; Dunedin West,' Hon. W. Down® Stewart; Dunedin Central, MrC. E-Statham; Dunedin North, Mr J. J -,, Cla^; Mr J. M. Dickson! Ohitha, Mr A. S. Malcolm; Oamam, tho HoaE. P. Eec;Waitaki, Mr J. Kitchener; Wafcatipu, Mr BitVoice: What about Dunedin South! Mr Elliott: For various redone we are not endorsing a candidate for Dunedin S °A J heany vote of thanks was accorded Mr Elliott.