THE REV. W. SLADE AND HIS CRITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 4

THE REV. W. SLADE AND HIS CRITICS.

Sir,— I had been hoping that some other pen than mine would have dealt with the letter under the above heading, which appeared in a recent issue of your paper. Is it that the writers whose letters have so evidently touched Mr. Slade "on the raw" i have not emerged from beneath the avalanche of sarcasm which he- hurled at, them in his letter, or (and which is more probable) is it that the writers so assailed feel that there is really nothing worth dealing with in Mr. Slade's epistle by reason of his evasion of the main points dealt with by them? Mr. Slade states that the references which evoked the -criticism occupied less than six Ihvs out of over 2000; that may be, but Mr. Slade should remember that for every person who heard his charges delivered during Conference (when, no doubt, the much criticised portion of his address would not be ho noticeable sandwiched in with the other 1994 lines) probably 50 people will read the extract published by the press, and will form their own conclusions therefrom. The various writers whose letters you published made definite statements about the Stipend question. Either they were right or wrong. As" Mr. Slade has not refuted them the presumption, of course, must be that he cannot. His own familiar friend, the "fourth standard schoolboy" can explain to him, if he is unable to see it for himself, that to so completely evade the main issue as ho does, and writing in the strain that he does, is a cheap and paltry way of replying to those whose desire to see .the Methodist Church kept free from worldliness and self-seeking— which history shows to have been so detrimental in other denominations and to the oause of religion in general—prompted their letters. •' .. A, Trustee.