MINISTERS AND NO-LICENSE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14281, 1 August 1908, Page 14

MINISTERS AND NO-LICENSE.

Sin,—The Rev, William Thomson, replying in your iesuo of to-day to a letter written to your columns by the Rev. Mr Tenncnt, of Port Chalmers, states that he " regards every minister of religion wiio is a political propagandist as a traitor to the Church." It would be interesting indeed to have from the Rev. William Thomson a definition of all persons who, he holds, are included fn the.term "traitors to ilie Church." The Church suffers to-day. not from preachers who are political propagandists, but from men who, for lack of courago stud from love of case, slay not the enemies of Christ. They have forgotten the teaching of Elijah, when he 6lew the priests of Baal: 11 That God Himself oan only bless thai, land or heart, wliioh no longer shelters within its borders rivals to Himself." And surely the greatest rivals to Christ in the present oivilisation are the temples raised for the worship of the gods of Bacchus and iu worshipping whom the people of New Zealand pay annually three and a-half millions of money—a sum vastly greater than that paid for the upkeep of schools and churches combined. Every one of these temples or licensed houses is a drunkard factory, where the image of God is taJcen in as the raw material and converted into the imago of the Beast. That all moil cannot view thie; matter in the same way as those who eoo in the licensed bar the greatest hindrance to industrial and social progress is not to be wondered at, sincc selfishness itself is, a moral disease, which 'ultimately so permeates the character and nature of persons as to prevent their discerning immorality in any act that brings to them a profit. On the one hand ihe liave the No-license party, which gives time., money, and talent in the straggle to free other mem from the thraldom of the drink traffic; on the other " the trade,'' which gives money and employs men with time and talent to plead that it might be allowed to continue debasing men and women, smiting ohiidren yet unborn, with its blight, because in so doing it makes large profits. Is everj minister of the Gospel not justified—nay, bqund,—as a servant of Jesus Christ, to spend his strength in smiting this giant evil? . FeUeet of tlio Giant brood. Son of Brutish force and Darkness Who lias drenched the earth with blood Gropes in yet. unbiased regions ' For his'miserable prey, Shall we guide his gory fingers Where our helpless children play? Since whon was the Rev. William Thomson endowed with the power to discern what is or is not the duty of a minister of .Tesus Christ? Little wonder that the Saviour wept tears of blood that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, when looking down through the ages Ho eaw what would be done' to His image and in His name. - I am, etc., July 23. Robert Thomson. THE RAILWAY BALANCE SHEET. _ Sir,—Aid who take an unbiassed and intelligent interest in live affairs of tsie Dominion must have perused your leader of the 17th inst. on the railways annual statement- with nothing but perfect approval. Your essay m doubtless a twice-told tale, which has as yet been resuhless. But failure to remove a sore by one or even two applications should not daunt. By repeating the process and rubbing it in the desideratum sometimes results. Your ooneisc "showing up" onoe again of. (lie raihyaj r baianoe sheets may ha.ply bring us nearer to so desirahlo a goal by inducing a more diligent scrutiny by .the hitherto perfunctory. At the close of his recent speech at Waikaka. I askod the lion, the member for Wakatipu whether or not lie considered any statement of railway accounts' correct which omitted to show at debit of profit and loss account the interest (hie on capital charge. I ventured then to assort tint tliis was t'he premier charge against revenue. Now. Opposition members have ever kept on clamouring for a proper system of accounting, and it would have been thought that one so cunning in figures as Mr Fraser is would there and then l have seized t,ho scalpel -iirrd us«l it effectively upon those responsible for the issue of what is at once misleading and "indifferent honest." Not so, however. From the tangle of 'his circumlocution the gi9ii of his reply was tliafc •as railways were of general utility, the same as roads, it would be unfair to aak the Government to expose the item at all on the yearly balance. As to 'repairs and depreciation, Mr Fraser did me the honour to say that he undoistood me better now, ■and was entirely opposed to such being paid from loan money and given credit to in tho revenue branch, as had all along been the case. Difficult I found it to determine by what powers of reasoning tie lion, gentleman arrived at such conclusions, and the problem may pualcs you too. As ail instance of how very misleading figures may be made, let me take the case of the Oiago Central railway, whioh at every stage of its memorable progress was "certain to pay." It has now reached Clyde, and the result of working tie system is an admitted yearly loss of 3 per cwL This is bad enough, but tho position becomos somewhat staggering whon, over and abbve this tidy deficit, an annual sum of £52,000 must be found to meet the interest on the borrowed capital for construction alone, wliioh totals £1,300.000. The capital debt of tho railways has boon put down at £26.736,000, and the yearly loss at'£190,338, but this summine up takes no account of rolling stock, buildings, value of land- absorbed, nor the accumulated deficits of years. Evil results must inevitably follow the tampering iu such a wild way with figures, and 1 it is to be found that many members of the House il'ould as lief grip a red-hot poker as probo the railway accounts drastically before a public meeting. IV reason is plain: the bulk of diem have been guilty of fostering railway enterprises of tho most unpromising kind—this to placate constituents who hunger for tho "unearned increment" and such as own emaciated horses, awl are solicitous that these should end their days with cclat "on the linos." Encouragement in the direction of financial debauchery was furnished in your columns the other day by a resident, who argued that as the entire system was remunerative his pet railway should have " a turn." Asido from t.hc moral aspect fostered by the yearly issue of exaggerated results, not the least' is that, however otiierwise correct Governmental figures may bo, they are taken with a damaging distrust, which must hurt the credit of New Zealand both here and abroad. Admittedly the needs of a young country rebuke a narrow outlook, awl it is.the duty of loyal citizens to present its best features in 1 the most attractive colours, but only on a basis of truth, if tho "vaidting ambition that o'erloapt itself and fell on the other side" is to bo avoided. Such profound economists aa Mr A. J. Wilson, Profcs&or ]e Rosajgnol, and a number of the highest class newspapers deserve credit, for their feajless attacks oil (lie New Zealand annual railway statement, and the damaging effect to ourselves produced by it. As a matter of course, there are always oortain men in the House who never tire of "playing to tie gods." Whenever the Government is tiod in a knot over monetary matters the inane parrot-ory "traduoers of the countryajid such like claptrap are served tip as a, fitting reply to grave impoaehmont. During the last one or two sessions a proper system of accounting has l»on faintly" promised in the House, though fruitless as yet, touching the railways.—l am, etc., Kelso.