MINISTER IMPRISONED FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 30

MINISTER IMPRISONED FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT.

food doal of public interc-t is being taken in events which ha\e recently taken place in connection with the Wc-t I' ree Church. (VttiTidj;*. The minister (Mr M'Dongal ) was more than a year ago deprived of his ciuurie by the (Jenciul As-

sembly on the ground of ministerial inefficiency. He struck to his post, however, and his session sided with him. Unseemly scenes repeatedly took place, when the presbytery sent a minister to occupy tho pulpit, Mr M'Dougall keeping him out, and preaching against the presbytery pnd a K sembly After a good many months of this the ecclesiastical authorities invoked the aid of the civil authority, and obtained from the Court of Session an interdict prohibiting him from officiating in the pulpit. Mr M'Dougall set the interdict at defiance, and went on as before. He was accordingly cited before the Court of Session, where he sought to pose as a martyr. The judges treated him with great leniency, and sought to let a little liirht into his* mind as to the real point at iss'ie, but he continued obdurate, so they sentenced him to a month's imprisonment. He is now serving the sentence, but is allowed to act as an extra chaplain to the prisoners. ! A good deal of sympathy was felt w ith Mr M'Dougall, when it become known that i the church was built through his exertions. ! that his office-bearers supported him, and that the congregations were large. It was freely alleged that the United Free Church leaders had made a dead set at him because he had declined to be a party to the union of tho Free and U.P. Churches, and that they were consequently determined to get rid of him and get hold of the church. From etatements made a few days ago at a meeting of the L T .F. Presbytery of Hamilton, there would *.eem to be another side to the story. According to these, the attendance at Mr M'Dougall's church before people flocked to it to see the fighting was miserably small, I ranging from 20 to 25 in the forenoon to 13 in the evening. Only some £10 or a little ! more of the cost of tho church was subscribed by the present members. People spoke about Mr M'Dougall being driven from his manse, whereas the manse only existed in the imagination. Mr Cowan, elder, Hamilton, said that on one occasion Mr M'Dougall called one of his session a liar, and the elder retorted by calling Mr M'Dougall a whited sepulchre. Mr Cowan affirmed that he had seen a member of the congregation take off his coat and wish to fight another member because of some irritating remarks by Mr M'Dougall. A desire was expressed by members of the presbytery to have these facts published Yesterday a law offic-er representing the U.F. Church, und accompanied by a po*se of police, forced their way into the church, despite the presence within it of a small garrison of Mr M'Dougall's sympathisers, and took possession of the building, taking off the locks and putting on new ones. People a,wait with curiosity Mr M'Dougall'* release from pii-ou to see what action nc will then take.