THE INDIAN CONTINGENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4293, 28 February 1901, Page 5

THE INDIAN CONTINGENT.

PRESS ASSOCIATION. NELSON, February 27. The Indian troops are having a. general look round to-day. Some are going ; up-country with the Premier by rail. PROTEST AGAINST SUNDAY TRAVELLING. The Rev J. Kennedy Elliott, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, ]iar s addressed the following communication to the Premier: A PROTEST. To the Right Honourable E. J. Seducni. Premier , of New Zealand.— Dear Sir, —I have been , absent from home, and now on my return I take the earliest opportunity of writing to you. I consider it my duty, as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Nov: Zealand, to protest against the wanton Sabbath desecration which you planned and sanctioned by your personal superintendence. I refer to the travelling of the Indian troops last Sunday and the military displays' tit the various towns along the line of railway. The soldier guests that journeyed with you will leave our shores with the conviction that Christians hold their religious principles lightly. The steadfastness with which our strangers adhered to their o\vu religious customs is a rebuke, to us, and as their scruples were respected, it might, reasonably have been expected that you would have remembered the deference you owed to the prevailing opinions with regard to Sabbath panotity. The procedure of last Sunday cannot be justified as coming within the recognised exceptions of necessity and mercy. I am positive that neither the present British Prime Minister nor his predecessors during the : Victorian reign would have so insulted Christian sentiment and shocked and grieved the public conscience—certainly not Mr Gladstone, whoso name commands your respect, and who was always the fearless and eloquent, defender of the Day of Rest. As a minister of Him who is Lord of the Sabbath and whoso claims on this occasion you have ; disregarded, I announce, and’ history . attests it, that no nation can continue * to enjoy prosperity that deliberately affronts God, ami the individual wlio as- ] sinnes that attitude will have the lustre of liis renown dimmed. Let me urge , on you also the reflection that the pro- ; gramme you 1 'carried out deprived many j of that weekly rest to which they were ■ justly entitled, and which experience j proves to oo conducive to the well-being of man. You have the reputation of ) being generous to those who differ from j you, and 1 know you will pardon the t plainness of my speech. I assure you I have not written in any captious j spirit, but as Impelled by a strong sense , of duty. As the subject of Sabbath 1 observance is one of public importance, s T intend sending a copy of this letter 1 to the local newspapers. It will raise t you in my esteem and in that of 'many I if you hasten to acknowledge frankly < that you have erred. Respectfully 1 yours, J. Kennedy Elliott.—The Manse, J 25, Pirie street, Wellington. 27th Feb- * ruary, 1901.

Tile Hon C. H. Mills went South by the Rotomahana last evening, for the purpose of accompanying the Indian Contingent in its tour of Southland, Otago and Canterbury. The steamer Dalhoudio sailed for Lyttelton at half-past three o’clock this afternoon. .