BREATH OF THE SPIRIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22197, 26 August 1935, Page 4

BREATH OF THE SPIRIT

NEW ZEALAND LETHARGY " I do feel that there is a great deal of lethargy in spiritual thought in New Zealand, that non-churchgoing is very prevalent, and that the old standards of the pioneers in this respect have disappeared to a large extent," said Mrs. Moffatt Clow, of Belfast, Ireland, a widely travelled member of both the Women's Christian Temperance movement and the League of Nations Union, in an interview in Palmerston North recently. " It makes the work of the Church very hard under the present conditions," she continued. " I cannot tell the underlying reasons, but, it is there. I think that this country, like every other, needs a new breath of God's Spirit." " I have not heen in any of your schools," said Mrs. Clow, '' but I thought the children looked bright and healthy, and spoke out well —with selfassurance and confidence —which I like. , , " People who think deeply realise that the League of Nations is the only thing between the world and barbarism. If we cannot secure a better method of settling disputes than by warfare we are not civilised," added Mrs. Clow, who has four times been to Geneva in an imofficial capacity while the League of Nations has been in assembly. For the last 30 years, tooj she has been associated with the work of the Christian Endeavour Movement, a world-wide organisation.