IS BLACK BLACK?

NZ Truth, Issue 92, 23 March 1907, Page 5

IS BLACK BLACK?

AUCKLAND MISSIONERS CHARACTER CRUELLY ASSAILED.

Washed as White as the Beautiful Snow.

Trouble m the Amen Corner.

i When Christians, the humbugging . hyprocritical kind, who work the i game or religion for what it is worth and uiake a high old living out of it, fall to and fall out, a . hooligans' riot is but a circumstance . beside. What happens, and this state- < ment is borne out by certain Christian proceedings which of late haVe. been disturbing the peace and good- , will of godly , Auckland. In Auck- . land, as m all other centres df Nfcw Zealand, there is a funny sect, half Methody, half, Wesleyan, with a dash 6f Congragationalism thrown m, and, befog a mongrel kind of creed it endeavours to identify itsell by tjhe 1 cognomen of the Gentral ftfissioiai'^d judging by what everybody knows of Auckland, mTssioners are badly Wanted m that degenerate city. The : Central Missioners have not been a 1 happy family lately, perhaps it is because the collections have not panned out too well, anyhow there have been internal dissensions, ending, m the ultra-respectable and rigidly 1 religious body bumping out hard: on to the pavement one of its boss cocks, one A. J. Black, for reasons that he had not been all that a ! missioner of the Central Mission is expected to be. "What the Mission " has up its sleeve .against its Black sheep,, or ram or whatever he is, 1 is not xniite explicit.' It is more than probable that Black has not a p»od character, and if one mayimacine from what has been said, the Missioners don't look on Black as being a good, fond, loving spouse, that his domestic relations . ARE NOT ALL PURE MERINO and that altogether the Black petson is a kind of Stig-gins who is not fitted to spread the " Word >l to the heathens, the blind, and unbelievers. Accordingly holding these .various views, Black was bumped out, and Black reckoned accordingly that be was unfairly treated, and wanted j the "Stewards'" to reconsider his case and to give him the opportunity of! refuting the vile slanders that had j been spread about him. The Central Mission Council having biffed him out, after what it considered a fair trial, did not seem disposed to. give him another hearing ; but preferred to place before the Auckland Ministers' Association all it knew, and was prepared to prove against Black, if. Black, like Barkis, was Wijlin', but he did i not seem to take to that idea, and j hit on. the happy plan 6f challenging W. H. Smith, Superintendent of the Central Mission, to meet him' on the public platform, and thera I thrash out the rights and wrongs of Black's blackened character. Smith was not to be dfrawn into the unsavoury discussion, aad declined to :< assent to 'a slaj^ttaAg&g ma-tch. Blacßr, hofto be ; outdone, next -decided on an indignation meeting, which was held one night last, week at the Royal "Albert Hall, and there and then was beheld that lovely spectacle of seeing how these Christians love one another. It was a Christian meeting, and one not likely to be forgotten by those present, and the hall was packed by both sexes, the. fairer sex of course "b&ing Black's ■ , MOST CLAMOROUS CHAMPIONS. One J. J. Macky, secretary of the Mission Council, was present; and though howled, hooted, and hissed at, he smiled serenely, and kept cool till towards the close of the meeting, when he was chased out. Pethaps it was just as well for him that he did. There were a. tew present who Were not Black's partisans; and one louder-voiced and more uproarious than the others, was seized by a gang of young tough bucks, carried and deposited out on the roadway. The meeting certainly did not tend to the advancement of Christianity, at anyrate as preached and propounded by the City Missioners. Black eventually got going, and said that rumours regarding him had been disseminated far and wide, and he had •been compelled to appear on ; the platform to reply to them because every other avenue had been closed. He deeply, regretted that the man who had made the charges was j not /there to restate them ; he (Mr. Black) would be very guarded m his statements, ' because he knew there were those present, whose duty it was to report what, he said» so that an information might be laid against him, and he knew that certain members of the Mission would like him m Mount Eden Gaol. Having explained that he had been debarred from going into the particulars of his private and domestic affairs he further observed that he was m a delicate and critical position, and it was for this reason that he was forced to take his stand. For himself he would never have taken the aggressive, but for the fact that matters' which affected his private and most sacred home life had been attacked. He had to say that the difficulty which existed m his home affairs had' been intensified and accenuated by the cruel tongues of a body of neople who called themselves Christians. He had reason, however, that night to thank God that he Relieved the difficulty would be settled. Previous to the departure of hid wife. from Auckland, Mr. Black said, he learnt, almost by accident, that there were influences at work m the shape of private

" COURTS OF STAR CHAMBER."

It had been said that he had received a month's salary m advance to send his wife to Australia. He gave that statement an unqualified denial. When leaving, Mrs. Black had sufficient money to pay her passage across and keep herself three months. He had written and cabled to her since she left, and had been m constant communication, direct and indirect with her. Since she left slanderous statements had been sent acrdss the water to her. He might say a great deal more, but had said enouicb to; make his position clear.

I All this twaddle was deemed by am individual named Webb to be a complete answer to the charges, and on his initiative the following, motion, moved amid caterwauling, hoots, whistles, and other indications of pleasure known to Christians, was declared carried : " That this meeting of Auckland citizens, assembled m the Royal Albert Hall, having heard the defence made by Mr. A. J. Black of the various charges brought against him by the Central Mission Council and Superintendent, desire to^jilace on record their opinion that Mr. A. J. Black has been wrongly accused, and 1 that i&e verdict: of •: J ■>..--. -f, THIS MEETING OF BRITISHERS.' j is—not guilty— and that he is entirely exonerated from the slanderous charges circulated about him. We also wish to express "outi- deep sympathy with and our etiw^> fidence' m Mr. Black. We also wish to add that the conduct ojif^he Central Mission m circulatingrfche ! rumors and charges without proving, same, is unworthy of any so-called body of Christians." The magnificent Macky, who characterised the push as a pack of cow»jards, endeavoured more than once to get a word m edgeways, but the roar of the jarring sectaries drowned his voice and amid shrieks, hoots, and all sorts ,of vile .epithets he left the hall. Black was the hero of the [evening, and at the .termination of the gathering men and women besieged the platform, and shook hands with Mr. Black, : who was finally, lifted off the stage and carried shoul-der-high through the crowd, who escorted him with cheers right down Wellesley-street into Queenrstreet.