The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1909. THE CHURCH AND LABOUR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 117, 15 May 1909, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1909. THE CHURCH AND LABOUR.

The Prime Minister, of Australia, Mr Fisher, has rather startled the religious world Jby delivering an address at' a Presbyterian Assembly in Sydney upon the Church's' relation to labour. In. the: cou'rjseV of hip remarks Mr Fisher clainied the'■ Church's sympathy for in danger, not only of the pangs of hunger, but of moral danger also..'! He considered "the Church had failed miserably' regarding the housing of the (poor and; their workjaig conditions.. • j-V.ested, interests were standing against the lives of our women and children.. There were rings and combines on every hand. Some people said #hat these things operated for the good of the public. They thought nothing of cornering foodstuffs. It^as a degradation tol the oountry, ,a_v.disgrace $o Parliament, and a reflection upon every Church that.failed;to condemn such practices.'\ Referring to the social evil, Mr Fisher declared that if the united body, of the Christian Church.were to say, "This must not continue, "it could not continue, because, said the' speaker, "we wlro,,stand v'a body outside churches, wiE^tand' behind you; like one man.'' The Prime' - Minister declared . that wKstt es#&ngei;,people from the ChtCrch was the fact that they could make moje; progress by association with: a. movement which was not of the-(Church but .which contained for women aijcLmen something making for the-welfar^ of their fellows. During ihev;last sixteen; years, he continued, Australia. Had doubled its wealth, but the increasb had not gonej to the struggling'people who wereits backbone. If 'the Church allowed these things it would not progress, but be left behind by the social- movement and be ignored,' "We are, in a way, civilised, 1' continued the speaker, "but we sire not really Christians or civilised when we allow honest men to starve." Instead of being in the lead, he said, "the Church had dragged behind, and had proved unequal to its first social duty." There would appear to. be a great deal of truth in Mr Fisher's observations, but it is unfortunately interlarded with a considerable amount of clap-trap. It has remained for the Rev. F. W. Faircloiigh,- of JUunedin, to sift the chaff from ■ rtfte wheat in this deliverance, whicK he has done with his usual ability. 'My' Fairclough considers there is more cant to the square inch in 'Labour talk about the churches' than in?any> other department. The Church is not organised for political purpose^, and could not lead in the social question in the way the Labour / party conceives, without being political ; but1 the Church can, and does, cultivate pure life, and humane feelings and sympathies. These, he pointed out, are the true sources of all social reformsi; The churches are not at all likely to be dragooned into subserviencyn by stupid abuse poured on theni by: Fishers,' and Tillettsj and the like. Further he remarked at length to> a -Star representative: "The Church does: not contain ot*-control the rich. Both the chief parties to the social struggle have largely quitted' the :churches. That is probably a sign the Church has been fair on the whole, and to be fair is a deadly sin to 'both extremes. The Labourite and the Socialist are very im-> patient of the cultivation of the individual. They believe in the magic of legislation—they think they can lift themselves by their bootstraps. Some time ago a friend of mine was addressing a meeting of Socialists. As long as he told them .of 'what other people ought to do, and ought to be forced to give up, they were very attentive and appreciative, but when he came to speak of the need of being better men themselves, he speedily lost their attention, and in the end was "'rattled' down. This is typical of the attitude of the Church and the Socialists. According to Mr Fisher, the Church is responsible for not giving the increasing wealth of Australia to the wageearners. It has failed miserably in '■housing the poor v It has also failed to! secure cheap bread for the people. ■It; has a further failed to1 suppress' tibe. social evilt- m I may add that the Church lias also failed to establish:^ a l^WMte i -: • and to enable whi^e then to. work in the tropics. It has also failed: miserably ,to make paper money equal to gold, and to discover perpetual motion, which would

save a vast deal of human toil. I \ cannot help feeling impatient at the ' callow stuff talked by men of this j type. People who spend their lives in ' constant e~fforts to prevent evil and , suffering, and to remedy them where ; they exist, feel keenly the brutal and thoughtless injustice of these constant and indiscriminating attacks. As masses of human beings, the churches will have their defects, but they are far more conspicuous for their virtues." The Primate (Dr Nevill) has also entered the arena with his protest. He said had Mr Fisher consulted the Church year-book he would have seen not only a long list of institutions for grappling with social problems, but also miffht have discovered that last year aloiie the Anglican Church raised over £8,000,000 by voluntary contributions for educational and benevolent purposes, a large proportion of which went towards the remedying of social evils. The Dunedin diocese, though a poor one, supports both clergy and women workers exclusively to visit the hospiI tals and gaols and grapple with social evils. The Rev. Father Coffey expresses the following opinion upon the question:—"l really think that there is too much of turning churches into social halls. It may bring the people to hear, but it does more harm than good in the end. We do what we can for the poor" and the orphan, but our mealis are limited, where the State's are great. As for such cries as this of Mr Fisher, we all know that thoset who have done least to help the people are the loudest accusers on the platform. As I say, it is easy to accuse." Finally Dr Waddell, of St. Andrew's Church states that his experience of all these social questions is that "political and social legislation falls to the ground unless backed up by the religious reform of individuals. The Church is the dynamic force at the back of the State." And here is the whole truth in a nutshell. True reform can only be effected by first reforming the individual. This is essentially the Church's work, and when once her efforts in this direction have been successful political, and social movements to the same end may be left to care for themselves. But Mr Fisher's query as "to why the Church has not succeeded in its admitted mission is a pertinent one, even though he may not have struck the right note in his condemnatory utterances. And there is no hint in the replies which we have quoted as to why there is such a conspicuous failure in the ire-, ligious reform of individuals" to use Dr Waddell's expression. Can it be that the methods are wrong ? There is undoubtedly a cause, and it is the plain: duty of the Church to find it, and apply the remedy. ;