MORALITY BEFORE PARTY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 19 November 1924, Page 5

MORALITY BEFORE PARTY.

CHURCH AND POLITICS.' (BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.} PALMERSTON N., Nov. 18. At this afternoon’s session of the Presbyterian General Assembly the Rev. Pii ' .Herron. (Auckland)' submitted the following motion: “The Assembly urges upon the people of the Presbyterian Church the importance of estimating adherence to moral principles higher than party when returning members to Parliament, and impresses upon the young manhood of the church their Christian duty of taking a due part in civic and national leadership.” In the course of his remarks, Mr Herron said it was time the people were aroused to the tremendous necessity of taking a more lively interest in the type of man sent to Parliament Their moral lights were being filched from them one after another. The divorce laws had been tampered with, and the gaming laws were so loose that whereas in 1892 11s 6d per annum was put through the totalisator per head of population, the amount for 1921 was £B. The report of the Licensing Committee in the last Parliament would, if carried into effect next session, put the prohibition movement back 25 or 30 years.

While the Young Men’s Bible Class Union had done its full share in producing ministers, it had not in the course of the 21 years of its existence sent a single member to Parliament. Tnere was something wrong if they were not encouraging men to go to Parliament as a Christian calling. The motion was seconded bv the Rev. J. L. Robinson (Southland Presbytery) and carried unanimously.