MY DAY TO GROWL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7102, 2 September 1949, Page 5

MY DAY TO GROWL

ABOUT THIS AND THAT LIFE’S VICISSITUDES—AND ITS PLEASANTRIES

(By

A. Growler)

The event of th? week, though I suppose in the main it passed unnoticed was the South Auckland Methodist Church Synod which met in Te Awamutu. The selection of our town as the locale of such an important church parliament confarred an honour on us, and was a recognition of our importance. While I must confess that I am not intensely religious, I was very much impressed by the address given by the Rev. J. H. Woolford, M.A., of Te Kuiti. Mr Woolford, I understand is a comparatively new arrival having only been in Te Kuiti, for some four months. He previously was in the South Canterbury district. Mr Woolford’s sermon contained food for thought and it indicated not only a keen and active intellect but show’ed that he is an observant student of local and international affairs. The address as reported in the Courier is well worthy of reading and consideration. The other deliberations of the Synod should also do much to advance the work of the Methodist Church and by so doing advance the day when Jerasuiem will be built in New Zealand’s pleasant land.

In view of the above it is interesting to read that when the Primitive Methodist Church of Great Britain decided in 1841 to send missionaries to South Australia it was suggested that New Zealand should not be entirely overlooked. The idea was taken up and in due course the Rev. Robert Ward was selected for duty in this country. He left England in May, 1844 and arrived at New Plymouth at the end of August. On the morning of September 1 he commenced his ministrations by a house to house visit and in the afternoon from a chair on the Huatoki bridge in the centre of Devon Street, he preached in New Zealand, the first Primitive Methodist sermon. Much later the Primitive joined up with the Methodists. Next week the local branch of the Red Cross Society are to celebrate their tenth birthday. Over that period of years the branch has contributed very materially to those who have been in need of help. Their war services and their contributions to the Food for Britain Campaign, have been outstanding. In peace as well as in war the Red Cross is an organisation that recognises neither class nor creed; by that I do not mean to infer that they are irreligious, for their cooperative religion has been intensely practical and they carry out many of the Divine Commands and precepts of the lowly Galilean. The branch are holding a Birthday party on Thursday, when in addition to other attractive items, a screening of the Red Cross Conference held in Stockholm, will bejshown. That conference was attended" by 700 delegates from 58 countries. The film is a talkie and should be well worthwhile seeing. It is hoped that their will be a large attendance at the party thus exhibiting a very real interest in an organisation that is worthy of the greatest support and respect. *I * * Not one of the least valuable aspects of Rotary to my way of thinking is the splendid addresses given from time to time. This week’s address on the “Hinterland of Australia,” by Mr John Edwards, was outstanding for the speaker as an Australian, has a very full and accurate knowledge of that vast continent and he gave information that should enable his hearers to have a greater appreciation of the problems of our neighbours. I was intrigued by the way in which Mr Edwards brought his address to a close for his singing of “Waltzing Maltida,” was unique as it was pleasing. It is something of a coincidence that the Prime Minister of Australia (Mr Chifley) in announcing his country’s fifteen year meat trade agreement with Britain used not only the ideas put forward by Mr Edwards, but he used also some of the actual words of our local speaker, and there could be no suggestion that Mr Edwards had copied Mr Chifly, for the former’s speech was in type on Tuesday. As said the addresses given at Rotary meetings are valuable especially when they are the outcome of an observant and retentive mind.

Yesterday,, two men, one an amputee, were seen selling books and flowers respectively in Alexandra Street. In passing, I heard the pedlar of books say he was a returned serviceman. Surely there is no need for anyone, especially a returned man, to have to depend on the goodwill and charity of people in order to eke out a living. The R.S.A. (I refer to the Dominion organisation, not the local branch) have, I understand, many thousands of pounds at their disposal and it is their duty to assist such men if the pensions are not sufficient. One reads and hears of individuals and local bodies refusing to give donations to such worthy objects as Crippled Children, Orphanages, etc., and they base their refusal on the grounds that Social Security should bear the costs of maintaining such. If that is so, surely it is incumbent on those who administer

patriotice funds to see that men who • served their country in her time of h need does not have to peddle articles for sale on the public streets. That also raises another question, who gives those people permission to carry on the work of pedlars? The local City Fathers have limited street day appeals to eight in any one year, and it would be interesting to know if they give authority for men or women to offer articles for sale in the streets. The practice is one that should be stopped, for town and country people are getting fed up with these appeals to one’s generosity. *****

The news that Mr J. A. Lee is to contest the Grey Lynn seat comes as no surprise, nor is it likely to cause the two major political parties any kgreat concern. Mr Lee by his bitter jonpcsition to a certain church nas forhimself off from the opporever again sitting in the ||g|||Mk the mighty at Wellington. coming out as an should make the Roskill

seat a gift to the National Party. I notice that both Mr Lee and Mr Langstone state that they will support the Labour Government, that is if chey are a Government after November, on votes of no confidence, so why any opponents of that party should bother to vote for the two “L’s” is hard to see. Wall informed opinion in Auckland state that the Labour Party are likely to lose at least nine seats.

Those who follow the proceedings of the House of Representatives either per medium of the radio or press, are getting more and more fed-up with the party bickerings that seem to predominate Parliament. Members seem to forget that they are really sent there to legislate in the best interests of the country and not merely to angle for party advantages. Both sides of the House are equally guilty and they should remember that even “political worms” might turn; The bickering that is going on over trivial matters such as the respected ages of members and whether a man had his satchell stolen or not, is fiot helpful, nor is it likely to help win th? elections. There is a great opportunity for the Renaissance of the Liberal Party, the party who really laid the foundations of our Dominion’s prosperity. I wonder how many of the members (Mr Algie excepted) have read Addison’s Essays. I quote a passage from that great essayist’s works, the essay is entitled, “Party Lies,” Addison inter alia states: “I have frequently wondered to see men of probity who would scorn to utter a falsehood for their own .particular advantage, give so readily into a lie when it became the voice of their faction. Notwithstanding that they are thoroughly sensible of it as such. How is it possible for those men of honour in themselves to thus become notorious liars in their party?” Addison goes on to give other reasons, and I leave it to my readers to read the essay in question. In far too many Parliaments in the world does one find Addison’s words applicable. Addison who lived in 1672-1719 is still a writer who should be read.