THE SYNOD AND THE PRESS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3785, 6 July 1899, Page 5

THE SYNOD AND THE PRESS.

It is' hardly necessary fa say that we are rieither. “amazed”' nor “astounded” at re- ; coiving from' Dr Kington.ryffe a letter,in which'he seeks to justify h.is action at the Anglic'ap Synod ; but! it is at ariyrato cau’se’for mild surprise that hq letter has bcen fpnyardcd'to'ns byrDrWallis on the subject. .-In publishing.Dr’Fyffe’s letter, vye feel that an apology isr'due to our'readers for doing so ;' and.’if, we. insert in a diluted form' "what- we: have formerly declared' to' be’ ‘hfnfit for it is orily rio keep clear of the slightest imputation/ that ,w‘e have, denied* the/ doctor ah opportunity of stating.nis view of the* matter. Dr Fyffe writes as follows : ; -I was perfectly amazed arid astounded on taking up the, moaning paper to: read the. cktra.oydinarjt leader., headed “Tho Synod and the, Press;’’,'’-if you, sir, have any sense of fair play whatsoever, ’ you riiib publish raj reply in full.; - Had you wished-to place bn record <exactly what li did not say,, you qonld .not have; done it ‘better.' And I /can/ only; trust that was riot your wish. . ; '■ ; You state in that leader that I cast a slur on. the community by'suggesting that persons with a certain, disease upon them carile rio tbe 'Holy Communion. That, sir, I will not say is a wilful /misrepresen-tation,-but, I 'can say that no other person iri the robin 1 understood me in .that sense, because I stated the exact opposite. What I did.say was “tffat.r could not conceive of any man with that disease upon him going to the Holy. Communion, because,- even’rib, pwb it*; on’ the lowest ground, his doctor would have warned him of the danger to others.” I don’t understand the /misrepresentation. I say again that ho member'of the Synod misunderstood me, and I can’t conceive any person of average intelligence doing so. My words were Unequivocal and quite plain." " , '■ ■ . i l -/ In another place yeti.add to your report that the remainder of my speech was quite unfit for publication. ' . That, sir. I totally deny. I had a very difficult. subject to deal with, quite unpreparedly, and I did it, and/ here anyone who'was present will.. I think, bear mo out, as delicately as 1 could, and in as veiled language as possible. I rim exceedingly sorry-to drag any lady’s name into this discussion, but you refer to her in your leader. I claim that, in that matter I acted as any gentleman would. T did not wish to shock any woman’s ears by even a reference to such a. subject, andT even-went so far as to apologise both to her and to his Lordship for asking her to leave, the room, so putting her in an awkward position. Could any gentleman do more ? What-1, said in my/gpeechi wasy-ribat there were practically, three dangers in the use of the cup. The risk of contagion from phthisis, diphtheria and a certain other disease. The first two were, I thought, very slight,’and the third, though possible, not probable. . I then added that contagion cbiild only occur in tho latter case if there was a crack in the lip of any person partaking, and even so it was unlikely. I went on to point put that the clergy, who had to drink tho dregs of the cup, were the most long-lived race' that existed, and that it was not within my knowledge that a clergyman had contracted any disease whatsoever in this manner;- and I further added that I had consulted ray brother medical man, .in the,- Synod, Dr Purdy,ris tbrihetherhelfrieiv'of any" case,' which he did not. Finally, I finished by saying that I had searched medical literature, as far as I was able, for an

authentic case, and could not find one. And this, sir, is the speech that you say is unfit for publication. I can only say in conclusion that 1 greatly deplore that this motion was ever brought before the Synod, for the reason that it will only do far more harm than good, but I now aver publicly that my own action in the matter was absolutely correct.

I was called on by his Lordship to make a. statement to the Synod, because your paper had published a report of the motion, when requested not to do so, and this I did as temperately and as delicately as I could, the result being that a total misrepresentation of what I said has appeared in your paper and been sent through the length and breadth of the country. I leave it to your sense of common justice, sir, to give my reply as much prominence as your own attack. Dr Fylfe, unintentionally perhaps, compliments this journal when lie implies that it lias completely repelled his virulent attack upon it and placed nim on the defensive. All our readers know wo did nob attack until compelled to retaliate and disprove a false accusation of dishonourable conduct—a charge which the accuser has not yet withdrawn, though the record—the “litera scripta”—is totally against him. The record is also plainly against his recollection of what he said on the subject of “a certain disease.” It is not a singular thing for speakers to say what they did not intend to utter, and afterwards to forget what they did say. The community, wc feel sure, will accept Dr Fyffe’s apology ; and Aye, accepting his written statement as conveying what he meant to say, will i'ofrain from publishing his actual remarks. As the doctor insists that he has given in his letter an accurate account of what he said before the Synod, wo will ask him two questions. If his remarks were fit for publication, why did ho request a lady in tho room to retire ? If they wore unfit for publication, why does he thrust before tho eyes of thousands of women what lie shrank from inilicting upon tho cars of one? Of course no reply is required. Our reporter’s note of what was said must be more accurate than the recollection of any one, and we cannot modify our former characterisation of tho staten&nts.

NOTE AND COMMENT. : The no-confidenco motion, which yiever had the slightest prospect of being carried, has been defeated by the substantial majority of seven votes. It is a. relief to have the way so far cleared to allow’of the Legislature getting to business. Tho vote, of course, settles nothing as to the opinion of members regarding'the merits of tho “marine scandal” ; that issue will properly be raised when the report of the Commission is submitted. A majority of the House has simply declared that it believes the Government has done right in setting up a Eoyal Commission. It was hardlv worth wasting a week in debate to reach that result.

The sentence in the Myers forgery cases does not err on the side of leniency or op that of severity ; it will be sufficient -warning to others,'while it does not take too heavy a slice out of the life of a young man who may, in other scenes and happier surroundings, yet prove a useful member of society. It is unnecessary to say anything by way of comment upon the prisoner’s speech from the dock, beyond saying that it ri owed an excellent spirit, and proved that he had been lately more wisely advised than- he was a few weeks ago when he spoke of dragging others down with him. Pie is better to bear his just punishment like a man, and to have the credit of being a scapegoat for others, than to have made any vindictive attempt-- to implicate others. It is to be regretted that his counsel in the lower Court pursued different tactics, and made efforts to besmirch certain people who appear to have been good friends to the prisoner, and to have treated him not unfairly, Auckland Presbyterians are showing a keen interest in the education question, and are moving in the direction of having a law passed to allow of a plebiscite being taken by which the electors of the colony may determine whether or not Bible-roading shall in future form part of the public school curriculum. There is no good reason why such a vote snould not be taken; and we should like to see a general Act passed giving power to a certain proportion of electors to demand a referendum poll on any question of public policy. As regards the Bible-in schools party, every opportunity has been given to it to get the decision of the people in South Australia, and the people have emphatically pronounced against the proposal. It is difficult to say what me verdict of New Zealanders would be on the subject. If the Church Courts could settle the question, the Presbyterian, Anglican and Wesleyan bodies would carry the day for Biblereadinsr: but it is well-known that many adherents of these churches do not follow’ their spiritual leaders on political questions. On the large question of the churches as such taking part in political movements, there will bo, a diversity of view. It is, of course, right for the religious organisations to seek to guide their adherents on matters of principle; but it is a different matter'when Church Courts enter tue field as political agitators and electioneering touts. . Those clergymen who debase their calling by entering upon such courses run a danger, of losing all spiritual, influence and authority.

An interesting tabic has just been issued from the office of the Registrar-Gen-eral. It deals with the area and population of the colony, and snows the value] of land and its improvements, the num-i her of holdings in the colony and the acreage under cultivation for the year 1898-99. Population has increased since the census of April'of 1896 by over 43,000, to a toal. of 746,673, exclusive of, Maoris. The capital value of the colony is assessed at £138,591,347, which is inclusive of the valuation of boroughs, and is an increase since the 81st March, 1897, of over fifteen millions sterling. Of the present valuation ;£84,401,244 represents the unimproved value of the lands of the colony, and the balance of fifty-four millions odd the unimproved value. Then particulars concerning the number of holdings arc given. Those of one acre and over in extent now number 62,639, which is an increase of 1880 during the past year,, and is a proof of the progress of land settlement throughout the colony. Progress and development- are displayed by the cold dry figures of the table. Approximately, one million acres have been •under wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. The number cf horses has increased by over eight thousand during the past year, the total now standing at 258.115. Cattle have also increased by 65,000 head to 1,293,024 : but sheep, owing doubtless to the greatly increased export trade in frozen mutton, have barely maintained their former status as regards numbers. There has been a decrease of 14,229 in the course of the past year, and the total number of sheep in the colony at Jtlm compilation of the table was 19,673,725. From this it may be concluded that the sheep-carrying capacity of the colony has JjCen reached. At all events’ there is not likely to be any material increase so long as agricultural products command good prices.