ANOTHER ACQUISITION TO AUSTRALIA.

NZ Truth, Issue 405, 29 March 1913, Page 8

ANOTHER ACQUISITION TO AUSTRALIA.

! Lovely Lascelles. "A Chance to Live Down Hfs Sins." The late vicar of St. John's. Carlton Hill, Brighton (Eng.). has left his flock suddenly, without collecting the usual purse, and he, too, has made tracks f-">r Australia, m the hope of burying the past. He is the Rev. H. Lascelles, and five of his 40 years were spent at Brighton, and, before flitting to Sydney last month, he found that a number of awful charges were being brought against him. AWFUL CHARGES. The chief- offence with which his parishioners charged Him was that be had taken advantage of his position as vicar and Scoutmaster to corrupt a number of the lads m his care. When charges were brought before the church, Lascelles made a clean breast of the whole business, but, instead of handing him over to the police, the church authorities deliberately attempted to hush it up. They even allowed him to resign from his living, and connived at his escape to Australia. After the religious court had dealt with him, he left behind a letter of apology to the mother of one of his victims, and when, m order to show that her son had been misled by the vicious vicar, the. woman applied to the wardens for the confession; this is the answer she got: — Madam, — The letter to which you refer was given to me not sealed down, and with instructions to hand 'it to you, if I approved of its contents, if and when I pleased. I shall be glad to discuss any grievance- you may, .have, but it must be m the presence of ;my colleague and co-warden, Mr. Steers. I am anxious to do nothing without his approval and consent. You must admit that your boy participated In the same crime as the late vicar, and I strongly advise you to remove to another parish, and take your boy with you, where he would have a better chance. Rightly or wrongly, there are many who consider his past actions should* debar him from taking an active part m the church ceremonial, and I frankly tell you that I think all' those who took part m the late vicar's crimes, or even knew what was going on, should pass

a long period of probation before assisting the service, either as choir boys, acolytes, or servers. The Bishop has rightfully punished the vicar by demanding his resignation, and I think we, as wardens, can rightfully demand tho resignation, not only of your boy, but also of all who have, either tacitly or otherwise,, connived at the crlme.^ which have been committed. I do not know what further action you propose to take, but 1 have mo fear of threats and must warn you against doing anything that may, unfortunntely, do harm to your son. Without bringing a charge against j anyone, I must say that I am sorry I someone has given Information to tho ' newspapers. I regret that anyone who has ever worshipped at St. John's should attempt to make money out of tho vicar's shame. — Faithfully yours, H. KING, Warden. That seems a fair sample of the Christian charity handed out to the woman whose son. she alleged, was contaminated by the spiritual chief of St. John's. The fact that the acts were committed at a time whpn, owing to Ills position as vicar. Lascollcs had a great authority over these lads, who were m camp, Isn't taken Into account by Mr. King and his co-wardens. They hold that tho young lad Is equally as guilty as the man who led them astray, and used his position as a minister of tho church to accomplish his purpose. NothlnK has been said of the; crime whien tho wanlcna and the other church authorities committed when they neglected to hand tho vicious vicar over to tho police. Not only did they fall to do their duty tn that respect, but they nlso connived at his escape. Ho has not been unfrocked, no that, when he arrives In Sydney, he may ai?aln be abl« to carry on his conduct under tho cloak of tho Church. Although the whole details are well Itnown to theso good people of the church, an application to them lor tho name of tho vesswl In which Lam-ella-i scooted to Australia. a» woll as tho name ho used to conceal hts Identity was Ijmorod. A second tetter, pointing out that It vron worao than criminal t>» allow a pcrnon of thin description to RO to another country, with all tho opportunities of carrying on In ih© «mie wny. met a Hlmllar fate. A verbal dctnan I for LoaccMwi's «\<Mr*wt m Sydney won mot with the answer. "CJjlvo tho man a cbanco io~livo down his sin."