MODERN LIFE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23353, 19 November 1937, Page 5

MODERN LIFE

AGED MINISTER’S COMPARISON SOME UNSATISFACTORY FEATURES (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND, Nov. 18. A notable figure at the Presbyterian General Assembly, which has just concluded in Auckland, was the Rev. W Hain, who is now living at Waimahaka Southland. Mr Hain was bor-j in Fifeshire on March 22, 1844, and ts thus well advanced in his ninety-fourth year. Mr Hain enjoys wonderful health for a man of his age. He will still conduct a religious service when required, though it is 18 years since his retirement. He faithfully attended all sessions of the assembly, and on occasions addressed the delegates. He can travel freely about the country without difficulty. Mr Hain was persuaded to cast his mind back and make a comparison with conditions as he knew them in his youth. “The young people get more entertainment and more pleasure in these days,” he said, “ but I do not know that it is better for them. When the working man was getting only 10s a week, as many of them were in my young days, they could not get much amusement with that. They get more in a day now than they used to get in a week. “ Well. I don’t know that they are happier now,” Mr Hain added reflectively. “ There is no home life. That is the trouble; it is different altogether. People live on the street now and at picture shows. We were quite happy in those old days, andd there was more harmony and fellowship in the home than there is now The changes have not been all to the good. People have a lot of pleasure, but they are always wanting more. “ I do think that the increased leisure is going to be a good thing,” Mr Hain said, touching on a recent development of modern life. “If they would use it properly it would be a different matter, but half of them go to a public house and waste their time.

“I think we are getting near the end of the age,” Mr Hain replied when a question was put to him about development in the future. “Prophecy is fulfilled to the letter now. The Jews are going back to their own land, though they will never all get there.”