SUNDAY MEETINGS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19812, 2 December 1919, Page 6

SUNDAY MEETINGS.

The City Council, by the narrow majority of one vote, declined to interfere with the right of tho public to hold political or quasi-political meetings on Sundays, in places or buildings under tho control of tho council. "We think that tho council would have made a great mistake if it had decided otherwise. have no liking for Sunday meetings for the discussion of subjects which could be just as conveniently discussed on uny other day of the week, but tho principle nt stake covers a wider field. The right of the peopk to meet on any day they please, and for the discussion of any subject, is an inalienable one, so long as public security and order arc not threatened or infringed. The council could exercise only a limited control, and interference would give rise to irritation and dissatisfaction. Any refusal of permission would be construed into political hostility, and soap-box orators would become positively startling in their freedom of speech in defence of that freedom. The right of free public meeting, on Sunday or any other day, is a splendid safety valve, and it would be a mistako to block it.