A PROTEST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 270, 14 October 1932, Page 8

A PROTEST.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I went Inst night at the kind invitation of the Palmerston North Labour Representation Committee to a meeting in tho Opera House. 1 had indicated in my reply to that invitation that I had another meeting and would be late. I came in. all good faith, hoping to get from thoso who had mnde a specinl study of the subject of unemployment and its remedy some light and lending. On mj’ entrance, however, my ears were assaulted by a tirade against Christians in general, and the local ministers in particular. Now, I have had no official communication from this Lnbour Committee before, and I should like to know if thnt is the usual way in which they treat their guests. Apart, however, from the discourtesy. 1 protest against the unfairness of Air Hodgens’s attack. I cannot speak for my fellow ministers, for I have not communicated with them on this matter, but speaking for mj’self I received not a personal but a circular letter inviting me to a meeting on Wednesday night. I replied by return mail, accepting the invitation with thanks. Later I received notice of the postponement of that meeting until Thursday. I replied that I had a regular meeting that night, but would try to attend the latter part of the ‘ meeting in the Opera House not to speak but to “near, mark, learn nnd inwardly digest.” I fulfilled my engagement to tho letter, except that I have not yet quite eomfortnbly digested what I heard and am left with a bad taste in my mouth.

In addition to this, I, and presumably the other ministers, were approached by the President of the Council of Christian Congregations with regard to this meeting, and I know that thereafter a courteous and sympathetic reply was sent by our President to the Labour Committee. Did Mr Hodgens have the grace and fairness to mention that fact to the meeting? Not in my hearing. No doubt my fellow ministers felt- that that was an official enough reply to a I should lifive let it rest at that if I had not previously replied personally. One of my colleagues, who had also answered personally and courteouslv, was specially marked out for ridicule, and why, for sooth? Because nt the end of his apology for absence, he added the. genuine hope that tho meeting would accomplish something worth while for the unemployed and not merely be for political ends. Was it nerves or liver that made Mr Hodgens so supersensitive? Anyone who knows anythin" about Church life in Palmerston North knows that Thursday evening is the regular time for the mid-week service, and I venture to think that there was hardly a minister in the city who was not so engaged. Wns it fair then to attribute their non-attendance to apathy with regard to the unemployed ? With regard to the invitation to us to speak at that meeting, was it meant to be taken seriously? I cannot, think so. Supposing 16 ministers with their well-known propensity had taken it seriously and had lined up on the Opera House stage, clad in clerical collars and armed with speeches, what chance would Air Hodgens and his friends have had? No, sir, if I really wanted speakers from the Labour Party to nddress my prayer meeting I should not send out 16 circular letters to their members. I should make certain of the one I wanted. I should go perchance to Mr Hodgens himself and say in mv most persuasive voice, “Now, Mr Hodgens, I want you to speak for us on the Influence of the Anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament upon the Apocalyptic Theories of To-day. I am sure you will have something new and enlightening 'to say upon that subject to our prayer meeting.” I am sure that if Mr Hodgens told me (as is quite probable) that he had another meeting and could not come. [ should not go to my prayer meeting and curse lnm for not being interested in such a vital subject. 1 am sure Air Hodgens knows me well enough to so approach me if he really expeeted me to speak at his meeting. I have always been of the opinion that Air Hodgens was one of the fair-est-minded and most level souled of our Labourites. Last night I was sorely disillusioned. And, sir, to what purpose is that, kind of attack? Who is benefited by it? Surely Air Hodgens was forgetting that ridicule, even if it can be skilfully carried through, is a two-edged weapon with the sharpest edge towards the wielder of it.— Yours, etc., G. T. BROWN. St. Andrew’s Manse, Palmerston North.