PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14042, 28 October 1909, Page 5

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY... Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURGH; ! Dct. 27. The Presbyterian General Assembly resumed this morning, when the report on the state of religion and morals was presented by the committee, which had turned their attention to the much discussed problem of the relation of the working man to the church. The committee had circulated questions to elicit information on the matter and the. answers received were of a reassuring nature and justified a decidedly hopeful view of the situation. The first question submitted wa> — "Do you l consider that the working men attend your church proportionally as well as other classes of the community?"—Of the 97 answers, 72 were'-af-firmative, 17 negative and 8 undecided. The negative answers were for the most part from the larger centres and small towns. The next question asked was for,an opinion as to the. ■ manufactures tending to allienate the working, men from the church. reasons assigned ■- were various. Briefly, they were defects in preaching, which was often dry, lifeless, unpractical and delivered in a monotonous tone; .lack of sympathy and brotherliness among church members; inability or mnvillingness, on the part of tbe church to understand the peculiar difficulties of the. workman's lot; low standard of character' among communicants; lack of systematic and aggressive effort on the part of the church; too great financial demands on the part of the church; lack of adaptability duo to conservatism on the part of the church; failure to cope with difficulties arising from the shiftin."- natirro of the population.' . , . The committee had also a list of factors of alienation discoverable .in the worker himself. These were. want of interest in the spiritual; the' worldly temper so prevalent in our time; misconceptions" as to the nature and purpose of the church; drink and gambling which plaved no inconsiderablo part in the problem: scepticism, when socialism and socialistic ideas. were made responsible for antagonist or indifference" to the church—. . • , What was meant was materialistic socialism of the Blatchford cialistic agitators and leaders had been and are often militant rationalists 'The report after discussion .was; *%f subnutted a report which brought whole licensing question. .The ; L<vmmittee's. deliverance recommended, the Assemblv to petition Parliament ,tq— TnS cancel the wholesale licenses recently granted within tlw> boundaries of the ICing Country, and the locker system ulegal. The Committee expressed gratification. at; the continued "good results ,of no licence, and urged ministers and, supennteiiUents to make the fullest use of, the opportunities for temperance "istructinn and pledge-signing -in the Sunday schools, nhd to'.appoint the fourth Sunday iu : November as Temperance Sun- ' v ' ' ' :. The Rev. A. Donll moved the, "hdoption of the report. He referred to the dechnc in the percentage of increase of votes, but ho thought that there was no rmson for fear or discouragement. There was one novelty in the replies he had received, from districts which had /been under no license for some time. lii those distriets there seemed to be. some difficultv in making a comparison between, no, license and license, as the. .days of j licence were so far away that they had. '< practically forgotten the evils from which they had been relieved. He, refenvd to the statements made by the president of the Licensed Victuallers' Association of Sydney, characterising them as a. sort of fanciful declaration , made by those who were front, . the'spot". " The amount qf Customs and' beer duty paid at InvercargiU did.nbt give a fair basis for estimating the amount of liqudr going into InvercargiU, as that centre supplied qnite_ ; a number of licensed districts.. 'Taking the three ports of Otago and Southland, there had only been an increase' in the three last years of £7342. which for fifteen electorates was infinitesimal when compared with any other fifteen electorates. As to-the statement that there wrs an increase of crime in no licens? districts, he had only to refer to Invercargill to'find that iits record was one pvnctical'y of . nholit».«*i of crime. cnlnunntin'rc on the : 81st of Aufnst. when thee was n "lean sheet <n Omit of Mr Justice Williams.

. The motion was seconded•., by the Rev. J). I). Scott, who pointed out tliat effective work could'be done by the Sunday schools. !.'.''"'.'";' Mr J. Lane said that he would ''aeree. with the three-fifths majority if New" Zealand was a Presbyterian country. (Laughter.) The strong .backbone of Presbyterianism in the" south was thecause of the sxiccess in the southern, electorates, but where did they have that in tlie north? .(Laughter.'V The Assembly should seriously consider th<* reduction of the majority. ~.•'. He' positively felt ashamed in Ashburtbn. when people asked hint why. there'were no public houses there', when the majority wanted them. The three-fifths, majority was supported .hy many people because it gave permanence to the decision, hut the experience of Canada, showed that permanence was sufficiently secured by a bare majority., I \ . * The Rev. Mr Milne asked permission to add to the.deliverance that the committee take "into consideration . the question of Stnfo control of the liquor traffic and report to the next Assembly.

There was an emphatic chorus of dissent, which the speaker humorously interpreted into a roar of approval. Mr Milne explained that he was altogether against license, yet he could not go in for no-license so whole-heart-edly as some of his brethren, as. he could not sec eye to eye with them oil the question of compensation. While ho believed in no-license he did not believe in prohibition, that was why> he thought the committee should enquire into the matter of State control.. Ho had made some enquiry into. £he movement flt Home, and he found that,a very strong opinion existed that reformation there must come .along the lines of State control. He was persuaded that the Assemh'ly should consider .the question as it would assuredly have to face it in the future. ■■',,' ■. ■ The debate was interrupted hy the. luncheon adjournment, and the Asseinblv adjourned till 7 p.mi Rev. White (Waihi) resumed the debate in the. evening.' 'H-ehoro testimony to the success of no license in, his district, and spoke of its benefits especially to the young. \ As fair-State control, ho believed those who spoke in favour of it were helping a«other movement that was not so good.

Mr Milne denied that there was any sinister suggestivehess in his idea. He merely wanted the rommitteo to en- / quire into the' subject. ' , ■' On the motion of Rev. Mr Gray (Gorel it was resolved to include in the deliverance a suggestion that the Government take steps, to'prevent the manufacture of intoxicating liquors in no-license areas. Rev. Mr Johnston (Sheffield) moved that the Assembly should express the opinion that the three-fifths majority should he reduced. Dr Gibb, on a. point of order, said notice of motion was necessary, the Moderator concurred, and Mr Johnston gave notice. Mr Doull having replied, the report was adopted, and after other business the Assembly adjourned.