PROTESTANT CAUSE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17477, 23 January 1919, Page 3

PROTESTANT CAUSE.

ANNIVERSARI" MEETING

REVIEW OF YEAR'S WORK

THE POLITICAL ASPECT.

The'- c was a very large attendance a;ti the Opera House- on Tuesday night, when a meeting was held to mark the first; anniversary of tbe c,st»ablk>hment of a branch of the Prote-Hanc Political Association in Wanganui. The chief speaker was th 0 Rev. Howard EHiori.

Mr R. B. Horsley. who pm-uded, .said it was the anniversary of -the establishment of a branch_ of the P.] 1 \. in Wanganui. The work had progressed steadily and consistently, and. the membership had doubled in the first three- months He could not speak too highly of the work .of the women. (Applause). To-day they had branches in Wanganui East, Gonviile and Aramohu, and, they were greatly indebted to the officers of th o 'churches wl'° placed the buildings aa their disposal.

Mr. G. .1. Harford, president of the Feilding branch of ihe P.P.A., said i<n the niglij- of the memorable, meeting in Feilding he went.more oust of curiosity," with a biassed, mind against me Rev. Howard Elliott. He had read the newspaper strictures against him, but he was converted to believe that Mr. Elliott wa-i a man's man. a man wi*ii th© courage of his convictions, and th* right- man in the right place. (Applause.) The conduct of some of the "crowd.was so cowardly that he became one of the P.P.A. The speaker was told that if he threw in his lot with the PP.A. he would have to shut np his shop, as the Catholics would all be against him. It was only a bugbear. There were probably business men in Wiangdnui who were afraid to assist the organisation, lest they lost some 'trade. His experience was that his returns were larger in business. Their secretary was a mercer, and his business had doubled since he was associated with the P.P.A: The Roman Catholic portion of the community was only one-seventh, and from a business standpoint it would pay anyone to join the P.P.A. (Applause and laughfer). The P.P.A. was out to open the people's eyes. The speaker referred in scathing terms to the Ne Tern ere T>eci-ee. 1+ meant, in his case, according to th o Pope's contention, thftt he had lived in adultery, not married, and •'that his children would nat "be legitimate and had no rights. Would they allow any man, whether Pope, pries'-, emperor. or king, to say thai, people were living in sin? "We love our liberty too much for that," added the speaker. "Our sons —and two of my sons —went forth 'to fight for liberty. Do we want them to be told, wh-pn they come back, that they are illegitimates? -That- is what. th e Roman Catholics want to say, if they had their way. We want our sons to return to *a clean country > and I the only Avay to do it was to put clean men into Parliinent." (Applause). Proceeding, the speaker said if the'Protesta ut.s gtood together for love of righteousness, they could make a clean sweep of the whole lot, and that was one of the planks of the P.P.A. platform. He lMged all Protestants to stick together. If they fought for -what was right, they would get victory every time. (Applause).

The Rev. Howard Elliott, had a very cordial reception.) He said the P.P.A. was nab only gathering members, but finding in its ranks men and women who were capable of pnliting their views befpre audiences. A huge influence wag being weilded. No other cause could gather iu'chaiTiriudieiice by invitation.Tlie "wise men. hi Wellington" realised tha* the P.P.A. meant .someithin^. Since the last meeting in Wangjinui, peace had come on the battlefield. There was no better man to guard th € European nations than M. Cremenceau, the FrencJi Premier, who in 1905 declared •ihat the Roman Catholic Church was the curse of his country. People poohpoohed the idea thai Rome had anything to do with the war, but before Italy would come in, it was stipulated that the Pope would not have a seat at ■the peace table. (Applause.) He hoped peace would come on broad, strong,' magnificent lines, and that the nations would, be bound together, and, above all, strengthen'the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood. (Applause.) Re believed that would be the happiest result of the Peace Conference. A new spiritwas now in the world, and there was a cry for justice and a demand for right for all men to share more fairly in the benefits of common existence. The Avar was ended as far.as New Zealand was concerned; but, there was a- crisis, as all things had to bo made new. Tliiere was a political crisis imminent. The Protestants had never befor c faced the matter as a political body. Very little of tho wealth and influence belongs-! to'tho Roman Catholics. But, the Catholics owned the mo.si church property in this country, aud it wa,s untaxcd. They had baaza.rs and orb unions— like ti\e one 'they are running at Marton —and some people bought tickets, believing it was a patriotic movement. There was nothing to stop the P.P.A. putting in a new Parliament, excent if they did not se° the necessity of all .standing together. Rome was now a

favoured party hy the Government. The ftiist thins in the political situation was the Na'ional Government, whicli was tremendously unpopular. Th© National Government did its'. pari. in the war, but any other Government would have done the satn<>, :us the people would have forced "ihein. As an organisation it was di e most futile tlia^ ever sat on ills benches in New Zealand. It had failed to deal with th« cost of living question in a proper way. Eighty thojsnnd men had 1 <-• i*t- New Zealand, to li^ht, and were returning a'o the l'^:e of from eight ihousaml to ten thousand per montli Though the Government had italkied of repatriation for two years, what had bven done? Men were either being sold land ait £70 or £'80 per acre, or shoved away into th c back-blocks. He intended to ask the Prolcstant ricii men vo finance Protestant soldiers en farms where they could gob a living;. Tlie matter was now being considered. Rome, was already doing tlio same thing for her -oldiers. After referring to traction of the Government in preventing tho circulation of Protestairt Jiterature, the .speaker urged Protestants to vote .the National Government' out. There was now talk of dissolution of the political compact, which would leave j Reform on one side and tho Liberals on the other. There was no essential I difference between them. The Protestants had no square deal from the Reformers, and less [mm the Liberals if they had to choose which would j they have?

A Voice : Neither!

Another Voice : Like, two rotten egg?. The Rev. KllicW : Well, don't hrenk tliorn.

Continuing, Mr Elliott said Rome ha/1 ridden on the Liberal*' hack tor forty veni-s, and lmd risen to a pnra mount position, wall thf. result that leading positions in the Civil Service were fd'od in- Roman Csitholics. Rome saw !><i opportunity in the rising tidt> of Soddon's popularity. Literalism 10-cl-iy offered nothing to the Protestants. Men like Messrs i*itr and Poole. M.P.'s, pot nil th" Roman help becnu.se. they supported .Sir Joseph Word. Rom© had battened on Proteslant- votes. Liberalism "under "Ward was n.o good to Protestants, ft wns a. .=-<t range thing that. Rome had always fought the Conservative

side. There wa> not. » Roman Caiho.ic in the Reform Party. What Reformer protested against- the censorship of Box 912? Sir James Alien had "been >hio of the btv-jt supporters Rome had. He made tli-e bargain with the priests and the miners. The Reform Party held no "hope for the Protestant side. There was the. L;,iiour Party, and in "Wellington they were trying; to create a new party with ''"Slippery John" as leader. (Laugh* er.) Such a par;y would b© no good to them. In the pasi. Labour had been content to -.o tied to Liberalism. Likewise, the Protestants brad nothing to thank Labour for. Recently, three leadens of the extreme section of Labour, Messrs Fraser, Holland and Semple. had been put iiuo Parliament. Xhor.e had been great suppression of facts, abouj the atti.Urie of the Labour Reprjisetitation CommitU\? uii'l the P.P.A. There were 72,000 unionists registered in Xew Zealand, and ihy L.R.C. represented oniy onoseventU. Th<j section under tho leaders of the extreni e section failed to reali-e that tho great bu]k of Labour in Nev Zealand was outside them. . The Pro«<?sit;iii:s expected tlie opposition of the Roman Catholic Church and extreme Labour. The Roman Catholic Church was now professing to be the cradle ut' Laboit•*, Tlie real birth of the Labour movement began in the revolt from Rome. Jt was after that Labour bega.i to draw 'tog-ether. The votes for Holland, Semple and Eraser were largely ttugmented by the Roman Catholic vote. Rome's vote was for sale. They w^ve cute chough to see tho day of Wa-rd v.as coming to an end, and that Reform was unpopular, and th:it-, a new par-y miglti- arise. Xt was a ir.jirv.el that people did i.ot realise tlie position. Tl;e political si .'nation in New Zealand could only Ikj saved by sane Labour.

Mr Elliott urged Protestants to try to subscribe £1 n year to their organisation, to build up a fund to finance worthy Protestant young men to contest seats in Parliament. Referring to the Prohibition question, it was laid down in the constitution that- it was not a matter for plaiform discussion, th c same as th e Bible in Schools question. This was for -the reason that some were ardent Prohibitioni-sis, others wiere, not; some were in favour of the. Bible in Schools, olhers were not. Bat they could unite on the one broad question. The next election promised to be intense'and bitter, and lV appealed to Protestant^ to-stand by their leader*. Ho had heard in Wanganui on© man mentioned as tiro Roman Catholic candidate, and If they wer? going to run one the P.P.A. would have to consider running a man to represent the majority. (Applause). Mr Elliott concluded with a strong appeal to the members of 'the organisation to stand unitedly together. Ai the conclusion the National Anthem was played, three cheers were given for Mr Elliott, and, amid a.pplause an announcement was made that during the evening 105 new members were enrolled.