The cablegram stating that the Wesleyan Conference now sitting at Lincoln had passed a resolution protesting against Sunday golf caused a Herald representative to make inquiries locally.
The minister at Devonport, the Rev R. Taylor, when interviewed, said he knew of the game being played in his district, although he had not actually seen play in progress.
Some people had approached him and the Rev S. Griffiths, Congregational minister at Devonport, asking them whether something could not be done to prevent golf being played at the Waitemata Links on Sundays.
The employment of caddies on Sundays was the chief ground for complaint.
It was a form of Sunday trading, an inducement for Sabbath desecration for gain.
The golfer's view of the matter was expressed by Mr A. M. Howden, a member of the committee of the Waitemata Golf Club.
Mr Howden said that the club did not recognise Sunday play, and no matches were allowed on that day, but a certain amount of play by private arrangement went on.
To this Mr Howden saw no objection.
The line must certainly be drawn somewhere, and he was not desirous of seeing the Sabbath turned into a day of general sport.
But golf was different from most other games in that there was little noise connected with it.
It did not attract crowds, and was generally played in places which were not under public observation.
Many golfers were men who were unable to play the game on other days, because their time was very valuable, and the links were generally some distance out of town.
Mr Howden proceeded to relate the views of clergymen he had known who had expressed themselves as tolerant of Sunday golf, for golfers went to church before or after the game.
To his knowledge, golf was played on the following courses on Sunday - Wanganui, Gisborne, Miramar and Trentham (Wellington), Napier, Invercargill, St Clair (Dunedin), and, he thought, Christchurch and others.
• Otago is not the only place boasting a mysterious airship.
Residents of some of the highest points in Auckland suburbs have been mystified during the last few nights by the appearance of a peculiar light hovering in the sky in the direction of East Tamaki.
Several persons have noticed the mysterious illumination between the hours of 10 and 11 o'clock, and the only solution is that a trial is being made of an airship.- ODT, 28.7.1909.
