Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

13 articles on this Page

Great Free Church Demenstration.

News
Cite
Share

Great Free Church Demen- stration. The Budget from the Free Church Standpoint Alien Land Laws. The concluding meeting of the Free Church Council gatherings on Thursday evening at the Judge's Hall, Trealaw, was a magnificent one in every respect. The beautiful building was packed to overflowing with an enthusiastic audi- ence, who demonstrated their agreement with the sentiments expressed by the various speakers in rounds of vigorous hand-clapping. The address of Prof. Levi, who was correctly described by the chairman as one of the most brilliant young men of Wales;" was a splendid effort, combining shrewd wit, happy epigram, and forceful argument. This was one of the most noted pronounce- ments in the course of the sessions. The chair, in the unavoidable absence of Mabon, the appointed chairman, who was engaged at Derby on other business, was occupied by the Rev. Thos. Richards, the president of the Federation, whose first word was an expression of thanks to the local Free Church Council for their entertainment, to the trustees of the Judge's Hall for placing the hall at their disposal, and to Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Nicholas for the kindly reception given to the delegates on Wednesday afternoon. The Chairman said they were gathered together that evening as a body of Free Churchmen. Their differences were not fundamental, and were perhaps not so great as those at present existing in the Established Church. Each denomination had its own particular work to do. Per- sonally, he believed in denominationalism, and agreed with Mr. Lloyd George, who declared at Treorchv that denominations were necessary. It was natural that people who believed in the same way should gather together, and work to- gether. It was to the advantage of Christ's spiritual heritage that it should be divided into different communities, each working in its own particular way. He would, therefore, urge them to be true, not only to the Union, but also to the church they belonged to, as the Union could best be served by working ener- getically on behalf of the churches indi- vidually. They had a great work to do in counteracting the materialism of the age, in safeguarding our Sundays, and in fighting the drink traffic. They had also something to say with regard to religious equality. They would not seek the loaves and fishes of the Established Church, butj its emancipation from State control. They j demanded absolute fairness as between j individuals and individuals, and as be- ] tween institutions and institutions (ap-í plause). The Rev. D. Wynne Rees, Penmark, read a resolution passed at the after- noon's conference, deploring the abuse of the Sabbath, which was seconded by the Rev. E. Richards (Ebenezerf), and carried unanimously. PROF. LEVI'S BRILLIANT ADDRESS. Prof. T. A. Levi, M.A., B.C.L., Aber- ystwyth, spoke on "The Budget from the standpoint of the Free Churches." The Budget, said the Professor, was one of the most appropriate subjects that could be discussed at a Free Church meeting, because it had been brought into Parlia- I ment by a man who had been brought up? in a Christian Church, supported by a I Christian Church, and, he believed, a Budget which applied the principles of Christianity to the problems of the day (applause). Should they, therefore, desert the Chancellor now when he was being blasphemed almost everywhere P (" No "). He proposed that a message be sent from that meeting to Mr. Lloyd George in the following words —" God- speed to Mr. Lloyd George and his Budget (applause). Proceeding, Prof. Levi said he found at all Free Church meetings people who were apt to bar politics, as if they were afraid of it. People seemed to be in a di culty as to Socialism and Individual- ism, State matters and government gene- rally. Unless they got over these diffi- culties, he believed it would be a loss to the Free Church Councils. Politics was nothing more than a plan, an institution, to enable men to live the ebst possible life. They never need be afraid of politics in Free Churih meetings-he to enable men to live the best possible (hear, hear). The greatest need of the country to-day was Socialised Individual- ism, or Individualised Socialism. Their programme in the coming years would include adult suffrage, whereby every man over 21 years of age would have a vote, based upon character and not upon pro- perty. They also wanted to establish a system of education which would enable every child in the country to proceed from the elementary school to the univer- sity free of charge. They also wanted labour emancipation, the abolition as far as possible of unemployment, the estab- lishment of labour exchanges, and a national minimum wage. They also pro- posed to establish a system of insurance against sickness and incapacity of all sorts. Poverty in 70 per cent. of cases was due to causes over which men had no control. They also wanted to break up the Poor Law, and abolish work- houses, and put up in their places some- thing more worthy of the civilisation of the twentieth century (applause). They wanted to improve upon the present old age pensions scheme, and establish a better system of housing. More than all. they wanted to free the land (loud applause)..This, said the speaker, was the danger question of the day. What was wrong with the land system? It was not ours at all. It came over to Britain from abroad—brought over with a foreign invasion. It was an alien immigration, and the worst thing ever dumped into this country was landlordism (loud cheers). What had happened during the past hundred years? What if the people knew! Even he had to suffer for stating what lie ki-iew on this question. Some time ago, he addressed a meeting at Swansea on the land system, and a great lawyer of that town communicated with the college authorities, threatening to withdraw his subscription unless he (Prof. Levi) desisted from speaking upon the subject. He was threatened with instant removal from the college, but he would rather be removed ten times than cease to speak upon this question (land ap- plause). To-day, the land of England, intended by the Creator for all, was in the hands of a few, and it was not un- reasonable to think that some day some wealthy American would buy it all up. Forty millions of people in this country had no legal right to be on the surface of the land, and if they received notice to quit they would either have to fly up into the air, or dig down below. The result was a tragedy. The landlords held men and women in the hollow of their hands. He had known men and women in Cardiganshire receiving notice to quit their farms simply because they did not frequent the Church of England. If any- thing ever gave him (the speaker) a thrill, it was a sentence of Mr. Lloyd George's at Limehouse: This sort of thing is coming to an end now (loud applause). The poor man would be given a share in the land, and not a trespasser in the land of his birth. THE WAY OF THE BUDGET. Dealing with the question of how to raise the money for the objects he had enumerated as special subjects for legis- lation, the speaker said there were three ways. First, there was the Socialist way of making the rich pay for the poor, which was unfair, and which they as Free Churchmen could not consider. Secondly, there was Tariff Reform, making the poor pay for the rich, which was also ex- tremely unfair. Thirdly, there was the way indicated in the present Budget, where the rich did not pay for the poor, nor the poor for the rich. but each man paid according to his ability (applause). The only fault he found with the Budget was its extreme moderation. It made gifts to the capitalist class all along the line. Dealing with the valuation of land pro- posals, Prof. Levi said these were at the root of the great outcry against the Budget. Personally, lie would like to see every landlord obliged to value his own land. If he valued it too high, he should

Advertising

Advertising

Doan's Investigations Continued

---_-----Trealaw.

Advertising

Ambulance Circrnt at Ynyshir

----_-The Housing Question.

Advertising

Federation of Free Church…

Advertising

[No title]

Great Free Church Demenstration.