THE RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10976, 16 June 1903, Page 6

THE RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — I have on several occasions experienced that- the columns of a newspaper are not an ideal place in which to conduct a controversy on religious subjects. There is so much to^Jbe said that* the letters swell out" to inordinate length in spite of condensation,* which ' sometimes impairs their usefulness. I have resolved to follow the example of Mr Field, and endeavour to ;answer Mm and the other critics of Christianity by putting the case for Belief in pamphlet form. Mr Talbot and I have had a tilt before, and I am gJad to meet him, again; he signs his name like a Briton. For "Omega's" behoof will you kindly in the meantime reprint the following, which may serve as material ■ "for mastication. Your correspondents, of course, ought to know that Professor Hilprecht is an authority second to none on these matters.. The British Weekly of May 23, 1903, 1 published the following extract from a recent, letter from Professor Hilpre<sht : — "Having just" returned, from Europe, I regard it my duty to announce to you. that I^haye'made some' funda-: mental discoveries affecting Babylonian.; religion aud other matters, so that I feel bound to incorporate them into our new book, with somfr 'additional new illustrations, especially prepared for this book. I called my architect specially over from England to prepare the drawings of my reduction of the Temple of Bel, etc. Let me add that these new pages will completely upset our notion of a Babylonian temple ;jnd of the earliest civilsation at Nippur." Tm afraid that Professors Van Manen and Arnold Meyer, cited by Mr Talbot, make 1 rather a large order on our crcdxility when they ask us to believe that we possess no writings of- St. Paul's. But ■ possibly these letters in Paul's name arc' like the works of the great Greek poet, about which it was remarked that criticism had established clearly that they were not written by Homer, but by another man of the same name, who lived at the same time. — I, am, etc., JAMES AITKEN. *P.S. — As showing the unreliability of the statements which these Agnostic oracles give out with such 'certainty, I , may mention that "Omega" -tells your readers as if' the fact were well known and indisputable that "the- 'far-famed and splendid city of Baboon wa3 the capital of Assyria." Was it? I had always thought that Nineveh occupied that position. . "Omega's" statement is about as correct as it would be to say that Paris is .the capital of Spain. — J.A.

Chicago factories now turn out about 60 per'cen.'of the bicycles made 1 in the United" States, and in 1902 manufactured 530,000. Very Uttjle money was made, as the average valtUj is placed at about £1, and the travellers for the companies now carry automobue supplies as well, and in some cases even sell hardware. The demand 'for bicycles is now uractically confined to the country trade for practical use, instead of as in past years,, in the city for pleasure.

A Hontec paper states that it has been arranged that each of the next five White Star steamers (commencing with the Af ric) shall proceed to Australia at full sneed for one voyage, in order to arrive at certain data for use in preparing certain schedules. At present the BCllCdlllC invariably provides for steamers of this line 1o arrive at Albany on Saturdays. With ordinary weather , conditions the, steamers at full apped will arrive at Albany on Thursdays at daylight, thus making the passage two clays short or.