A CLERGYMAN ABROAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13939, 22 December 1908, Page 6

A CLERGYMAN ABROAD.

THE CHURCH AND TEMPERANCE.

.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Christchtjrch, Monday. The Rev. Dr. Erwin, of Knox Church, who has returned to Christchtirch from a visit to the United Kingdom, made some interesting remarks yesterday to a Lytteiton Times reporter in regard to the position of the Church, as seen by him through colonial eyes. He attended the assemblies of the Established Scottish Church and the United Free Church, and was impressed with the business capacity displayed by those bodies. An earnest interest is taken by the two Churches in temperance movements, and they have agreed to work together in the interest of soldiers and volunteers. He also attended the Irish Assembly, and found that the Church there was taking a deep interest in social questions. One of the most serious difficulties that the' Church at Homo has to deal with is the rage for "week-end" holidays. It is most noticeable in London, but in nnarly all the other cities of the United Kingdom people rush away to spend the weekend at holiday and health resorts. The leaders of the Church find much difficulty in obtaining workers to do work which will tic them to the cities on Sundays. ' Dr. Erwin was surprised and shocked at the poverty and drunkenness that came under his notice. He saw those two evils in all tho cities he visited, except Edinburgh. A regrettable feature of the position, he said, is the large number of women who.drink. The temperance movement, however, is gradually gaining ground although it is still far behind the movement in New Zealand. From the information he gathered, Dr. Erwin is convinced that the depression in the Old Country is very widespread. Little shipbuilding is being done, and in Glasgow especially there are large numbers of unemployed. Newcastle-on-Tyne is also suffering severely on account of the unemployed difficulty. In almost all the big cities, in fact, there are armies of unemployed, who clamour for work. ■ On tho whole, the farming community seems to bo in a better position than it was some years ago. Improvements seemed to have been brought about largely by the Imperial Government's land settlement scheme, which lias been carried out with marked success.