INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8869, 1 November 1907, Page 4

INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

The attitude of the churches in the city towards the Hospital Sunday movement is one which is not easy of | \comprehension in these days of en- | lightenment. They decline to do j anything to aid the Bandsmens* Hospital Sunday Fund because the demonstration is fixed for a Sunday —so the chairman of that fund has informed a meeting held to-con-sider the question on Wednesday last. The point, we are told, was mooted by a delegate to the meeting, who drew attention to the fact that in many towns in England Hospital Sunday was [observed, and special collections for the fund .were taken up in all the churches,' According to the chairman of the Wellington meeting, however, the local churches had refused to assist for],the reasons stated. It was pointed out that the demonstration might be held on a Saturday, but this, it was stated, was not feasible, as business engagements would not permit the bands assembling upon that day. The churches are, no doubt, opposed to the Sunday demonstration Jfrom conscientious conviction, and conscientious convictions, where they are not repugnant *4o moral law, are to be respected; but it seems a pity that ■they should be at -any time a bar to the performance of an aet of charity. The churches can scarcely be unfamiliar with teachings of Christ respecting the , performance of good actions upon the Sabbath; and surely the helping of the sick and afflicted comes within the category of good actions. Trams and ferry boats ply on the Sunday to convey congregations to the churches, ' and in many instances preachers are conveyed to church vestries oh,; the sacred day in horse-drawn vehicles any thought of desecration ol ! the day. Wherefore then is it supposed, by tnd"clerical section of the city that the assembling of a multitude on a Sabr. bath Day to listen to the sacred music of brass bands, and the taking up of a collection for the support of the sick is an act that is sufficiently reprehensible to compel the churches to discountenance it. To us the attitude of those bodies in the matter is incomprehensible. It hardly needs the Year Book to show the prosperity of the dominion. One has only to note the difficulty which from time to time employers of various kinds of labour meet with in securing workers even at the high rates of pay fixed by the Arbitration Court. The difficulty of procuring domestic servants in the cities al remuneration and upon conditions that would have: staggered: our grandams, is in itself a striking indication of the prosperity of the dominion. But what shaJl. be said when we find a steamer detained in a port like Wellington for owe night and part of the next, da.v through inability to procure a solitary seaman to complete heir' complement. The captain made every effort to procure a man„ but the three men he got hold of demanded a wage of 10s per day of eight hours, or about twice the ordinary pay of the seaman. This he refused to give, and it was not until after about twelve hours' detention that a man was - found willing to accept the regular pay, and the vessel was enabled to proceed on her voyage.