THE P.P.A.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16906, 4 December 1922, Page 4

THE P.P.A.

1; ADDRESS BY THE REV HOWARD ELLIOTT. ji j There was a large audience in in-fc ; 2) ! Choral Trail oil Saturday evening, jv | when the Rev Tioward Elliott, of the | ; Protestant Political Association, dok • liver eel an address. J : The Rev IT Hutson, organiser for | ! the association in .North Canterbury, ; presided. . . , | Mr Howard Elliott said that right | ! throughout New Zealand, from Auck • | ! land to Invercargill, the association | $ ! had been establishing a record tor jj | wonderful meetings, it was altogether j is to the good that Protestants who ha i § been iaaifferent so long, should awake | j and take an interest iu politics from a ; % 1 Protestant angle, ilie association "'a-> j 8! busy electioneering and it was ckv- ! j Honoring to some purpose, it was tne B i most widely organised and the most . I > powerful political assbiiaUou in Acw | j! ; Zealand. It was time the i rotestaniA I. of Christchurch sent in men who i cully j represented tlieir interests and tlicii ; sympathisers. . I 1 There were loud cries of “Cut it | ! 1 out •’ w hen Mr j-liiott said the Uoinnn | Catholic Federation was working under j jjf ' ground. Mr Elliott said he had the 1 a tiocuments to prove his statements. I and, whatever the Christdturch papers i g said, the l-rotestant Association would ! organise and make its inhuence lcUt 1 His subject was “The Kneuiy M Hlnn 1 ! the Gate." T here was a definite need 3 in .New Zealand to watch the enemies within the gate, people who by subtlety and stealth endeavoured to uproot Mr»- | tish institutions, and people, like the a lied Feds, who preached violence. The g ; two enemies within the gate were «i • Rome and the Red I eds. Tlie | | Roman Catholic Church declared itsclr q : to bo “ the one and only Church ; tr.at » ' outside oi it there was no salvation. | | ; lU 'i'eil us about Queensland. U | ;vir i toward Elliott said lie would first $ I Siiv what he w anted to say. The Roman 8! Catholic Chuich was intolerant ana I | bigoted. According to its own bishops ft i it would use torture to bring men under | 3 Lit to luge, c* it had the power. W lien j tiio lTot. -tants closed their pockets j against tin appeals of Roman C atlio- } lies, the Roman Catholic Church m | ’ A voice- Do you advocate civil war? ! Mr Howard Elliott said lie did not. . Tlie Roman Catholics were at enmity j with Protestantism. Hr Redwood, of Wellington, had declared himself a i Sinn Feiner, meaning that lie was in ; sympathy with Irish rebels. A voice: He never did. Mr Elliott proceeded to quote newspaper reports to support his statements. Amid interruption, lie also referred to the Bishop .Liston case. A man in the audience called out, ‘ What about the horsewhipping ?” Alter asking what would have hap- . poned to Bishop Liston had Sir Joseph i Ward been Prime Minister and Mr Wili ford Attorney-General, Mr Elliott pro- ■ weeded to threaten one interruptor with ejection. Then he dealt with the Ne Tern ere decre e. The attitude of Rome in that matter, lie said, showed she was not a friendly power. Yet Christchurch j had a representative in Parliament, Mr | E. M. Isitt, who pleaded that the Prime i Minister should not do anything to | upset the Roman Catholics. The ProI! testants of Christchurch were driving Mr isitt out of political life because lie had been a traitor to them, and it would not be left to the Reform Party executive to dictate to the electors or y to attempt to foist a man like Mr Isitt g on them, if the Protestants of ChristH , church North would go and vote solid- & hv for Mr Andrews, Mr Isitt would be | : ‘‘dead,’’ and Mr Archer would be out. fi j The Reform Committee decided to go § for Mr Isitt and to drop Mr Andrew's fr as soon as they heard the .Roman y Catholic vote would be behind Mr * ibe statement caused much interrnption, and there were cries of “it's The chairman appealed for order, saying 1 hat questions could be asked later. Mr Elliott said that his statements

were based on facts, and not on hear say. In every electorate in New Zealand the Roman Catholic vote was solidly organised. A Voice: Prove it. Mr Elliott : Look in this week- “ Tablet.”

■ A Voice: You make my blood boil, ] Mr Elliott. (Laughter.) There was a diversion at this stage ' through a policeman coming up the- 1 ! aisle and cautioning one iuterjeebor. \ I'-'Xv Elliott said that the Roman Cate | olic Chiu eu was not paying a sing. - 1 penny in rates for school properties in Christchurch. Concessions of that kina | hud been built up :.'a N; w Zealand j j throughout the years. Referring to a i 1 ji>t of Labour candidates, Mr Elliott ; said that 2o per cent were Roman Cath- ! olios, and a-veral Labour leaders in ; New Zealand worked actively in sup port of Roman Catholicism. To receive political power and to got other conces- , .-ions and privileges, the Roman Cathode vote moved solidly. This election it ; was with the Red f eds, j A Voice: Tell us about the horse- , whip. Elliott: I will tell you about | that. Six fellows of your size held me, while one used the whip. Y\ as that : British fair play? j The interjector : That man won the ; I D.C.M. at the war. aid it v as dt sirs ; le that j tlie traitors to Protestantism who were . in the last Parliament should be wiped j up, that Christchurch should be cleaned up and should send fit representatives ;to Parliament. The people must also j ;be on their guard against the other j j enemy, the Red Fecte., the extremists j who were now singing softly, hanging j off from declaring a general strike until i after election day. Tk»f people of New j Zealand would he fools if they were j fooled by the secretary of the Seamen's j Union and others. When the extreni i i-ts got into power, then would come wholesale socialisation. They were fool notions that liad failed everywhere in tlie world where thev had been tried. A Voice: What do you know of it? Mr Elliott said that the Protestants of Christchurch must realise that they must stand together and put thenvotes together “to break this mob.'* the Protestant Political Association than in the Labour Party, and the sooner the unions got rid of the'“ red - raggers ” the better. The Easeieti in Italy were an organisation of tlie same kind as the Protestant Political Association. The Fascisti were anti red. antipapal and anti-pacifist. The P.P.A s was composed of middle-class people, people who had always been the back bone of the State, and its members were pledged to cast their votes on a Protestant basis, never to in in cl party, but to vote for principle. He appealed to all Protestants in the audience to Co Likewise. After a collection had been taken up. various questions were answered. M? Elliott said that the following candi dates had been endorsed by tlie Protestant Political Association :—Christchurch North, Mr E. H. Andrews; Christchurch East, Mr W. R. Devereux; Christchurch South, Mr Lane, ' Riecarton, Mr IT. S. S. Kyle: Kaiapoi, Mr D. Jones ; Lyttelton. Mr R. Macartney ; Ashburton, Hon W. Nosvvorthy. When Mr Elliott got down on his list as far as Mr Kyle, there were cries of i “Massey again!” Later on someone asked, “ What about Avon?” Mr Elliott said that no candidate in Avon stood out sufficiently to warrant endorsement by the association. A member of the audience asked if Mr Elliott was consistent when he blamed Roman Catholic priests for soliciting the votes of Roman Catholics an<l at the same time he himself solicited the votes <3f the audience for the Conserve tive candidates. Mr Elliott said that there was a great deal of difference between ordering votes and soliciting votes. (Interruption.) There was further*]nterrupt.-ion when, in reply to a question, Mr Elliott said that he had never slandered the name of any dead person. A Voice: What did Judge Frazer say about you? The Chairman : Ask your question like a man. Don’t stand there yelping like a dog. Interruptions broke out again when the question was repeated. The meeting ended with the audience singing a verse of the National Anthem.