BISHOP SELWYN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14495, 12 April 1909, Page 10

BISHOP SELWYN

Sin,—l was ier.y pleased to read your appieeiatioti of the noble life and work of tho late Bishop Siclwyn in this Dominion. The feeling oi admiration and respect for the late Bisiioii is confined to no creed or class, but is thared by all. Tiie following state menl made by Utsliop Sc-lwv-ii in a speech delivered in the I'Vec Tiade'ilall, Manchester, on .November 3, 1a74, will probaolj provo of interest to your >cadcis at the "resent time. It indicates the opinion of ins great, Church leader upon the ijucUioii of prohibition oven at 'bat early dato:llu (ISLhop &hvyn) 1,;,! just lately como from the Stale ot Maine, and he mu.it say mat tho ape-e-jiv.iioe-i iiure were very mucii in favour of the Maine liquor law. Tnero was no siuli temptation there u:i was e.-;pcs«l io iho icoule of Dugland, where a man, if he was el r.eak mind and weak resolution, could go into one publicHouse afioi another, siwisding .sixpeuc..lieiv a.:-A a shilling ihe.e, ami two shilnigs in anotber, until Jsa went out of tho la.-t oi.e to slcjp in a kennel or die in a ditch j\'o smh thing as that was visible i„ tho State of Maine, and he thougl,!. that m iiseif was an cnovjuour. gam.' A.-; for what Uok place- in privaic, ho cared little lo inquire. It' ho ras-j-d throng 1, :, tounlry infeiieil with bandits, tie shou,d llunl; it some i;ain if the police tliomih tb:-y eouhl not apprehend all the bandits at once, wwc ai least so vigilaw ot to k«;i them in ti-ei,- dons. If he were l-r.-veiling in a eoaiiiry iufe.-ied'\\iin wild l«a.-a:, he should lliink it a great gain {,uai man had almined so iihkli iisceu.l;i;.cy in that country that, tho wild b.a-.:.-. voio afraid to meet him faw to law,_a>:.:i lay down in their liiirs. As for drink;:.;; in private ihouses, it was impofsdihj that any law could touch that, it wjs itniionible that wo could ciitc'i' into «nv system of wpionage v.liich would give access lo wnat was called a man's castle Hid- lie ivoiiid say, with regard lo public ho'.l-ser, that even if there ivei-e a hack door by which men cauio seerelly, thai back iloor bore witness to tho fact that there v.i-nt a man wi-.o was ashamed of wtrat. lie was doing. There went a man who would not wish lo bo seen by .his neigiihoiin, or' a man who would not wir-h lo l>o seen by bis wife. Therefore, he- said, Iho back door bore silent witness to the courses of tcmperauce. . . . I'm did not feel coinfor!«b!e if members of Parliament were returned by majorities of drinker.i. 'so one would wish a e;»'cm lo continue that mado men poor, weak, and unlit to work; but when the time came when the whole mind of the nalior sln.uM 1» rightly informrd, wlten llw conwiftiifo of iho nation would be raiK'd lo its trito and proper level, then the meinhcrs of Parliament would 1>; insiriictcd by their coiiriilueiils to vole for i-ueh laws a? Ihe .Maine Law and the l'orbes MacVenz : o, Law. in order thai where moral suasion and preaching failed the law might control those who (let-iree! to coiner! liberty into ]iee::'i...'.ijiicKS. —I am, etc., Alex, S. Adams. Dunedin, April 5.