SOCIALISM.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 271, 7 April 1898, Page 3

SOCIALISM.

TO THE I'DITOR. Sir, —It is a good sign when ministers •wake up to their manifest duty and evince a desire to educate their people on thiugs pertaining to their temporal as well as their spiritual well-being. I read with interest the address of Father Amandoliui on the above subject, as published in your columns, as well as Dr. Hosking's '" reply" thereto. They were capital addresses, but I must conless to being at a loss to see what the doctor replies to. The Rev. Father did not, as Dr. Hosking seems to infer, contend that for Socialism to be a success the human family must be shut up in monasteries, but he instanced the Benedictine Order as an example of what could be done when the movement was based on the solid foundation of brotherly love and fear of God, and argued that for Socialism to be a success it must be built on the same foundation. The sham article, which was based on selfishness and dispensed with the Deity altogether, had he said been tried in various places and proved a miserable failure. Dr. Hosking, in effect, says the same thing, and, therefore, the two practically agree. I was pleased with the moderate and liberal tone which pervaded the doctor's address. Now the ball has been set tolling 1 hope that tho other ministers of the district will give their views on this important subject. By so doing they will assist in directing men's thoughts into the proper channel and thus counteract the pernicious doctrines now so zealously preached in our midst.—l am, etc., ZUMITE.