NOTED JAPANESE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22117, 24 May 1935, Page 13

NOTED JAPANESE

DR. KAGAWA'S MISSION MAYORAL RECEPTION' VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS The noted Japanese religious and social leader, Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, who is on a lecturing and preaching tour of New Zealand under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A., was yesterday accorded a mayoral reception by Mr. Ernest Davis. "I sincerely trust that your mission in this country proves an unqualified success," said Mr. Davis, in welcoming the distinguished visitor. "You come to us with a record of which any man might well be proud. In the realms of authorship, statesmanship, economics and social reform, you have accomplished works which speak for themselves, and it says much for your sincerity of purpose that you have spurned all the comforts with which wealth, could have provided you to devote your time and the income from your writings to the amelioration of those who, generally, are classed as the down-trodden of society. Proper Housing "In your great efforts for the abolition of slum conditions, we wish you well, realising as we do the important part played in the health of a nation by the provision of proper housing and sanitation. Your life and its work, based as they essentially are, on the quality of unselfishness, are an object lesson to us all." "The Mayor has expressed our sentiments so admirably that there is little for me to say," said Archbishop Averill. He added that Dr. Kagawa represented the highest side of Japanese life at the present time. The Rev. J. W. McKenzie, representing the Auckland Presbytery, stated that no man living had touched the conscience of the world as Dr. Kagawa had, especially in, relation to the slums of the cities and the great need for social reform. Social Welfare

A high tribute to the advanced state of New Zealand social legislation and the work of its social welfare institutions was paid by Dr. Kagawa in his reply. He said he was so impressed with the activity of the Plunket Society that he felt he would like to introduce the Karitane system into Japan. He had been impressed also with the degree of spiritual life and social uplift in the Dominion. "One is amazed at the progress your young country has made in less than half a century," added Dr. Kagawa. "In nearly every town I visited in Australia 1 was told what a wonderful country Now Zealand was, and also that I would find it full of Scottish people. The British Empire has been kind to Japan, and my country wants to see those friendly relationships remain permanent. Japan also hopes to remain the permanent friend of New Zealand. Japan can learn much more from New Zealand than it can from Australia."

LOVE IN THE WORLD A PERMEATING FORCE HUMANITY'S GREATEST NEED "Love, the Law of Life," was the title of an address given by Dr. Kagawa last night to a large congregation at a devotional meeting in the Tabernacle. Although its purpose was serious, the discourse was marked by a great deal of unexpected humour and ! many quaint illustrations, which caused : hearty laughter. Dr. Kagawa asked in- ! diligence for the imperfect English j pronunciation of a foreigner, and jokj ingly mentioned an often-recorded in- ' cident in his life —that his front teeth had been knocked out by a drunkard with whom he had shared his home in the slums of Tokio. "I have to wear false teeth," he said. "So if I do not speak clearly it is not my fault, but his fault."

The speaker's theme was that in spite of all theories of the struggle for existence and the common belief that nature was "red in tooth and claw," love permeated the whole creation of living things, and indeed the whole universe. The love of God must not be judged only from the aspect of human nature, or in a narrow sense, or as it appeared for the time being; it was unfair to ludge a play until the end of the last act. Man needed all that he could attain of the consciousness manifested bv Jesits; only so could he pass from loving his own dear ones to loving all mankind as his brethren. No mere system of ethics could transcend evil, but love Could change evil to good. Unless men took the love of Christ seriously there was no hope for humanity.