RADICAL REFORMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 35, 11 February 1935, Page 8

RADICAL REFORMS.

PROPOSALS IN PORTUGAL. (Received 2 p.m.) LISBON, February 10. Jose Cabral, gaol director, introduced a bill in the Assembly, proposing that Army and Navy officers and civil servants who are Freemasons must resign their posts or lodge a membership order "to destroy for all time the menace of Freemasonry." The bill provides that lodge meetings must be held publicly, and that books and correspondence must 6e open to Government inspection, also that symbols and codes be prohibited. The Assembly generally favours the bill. Pinheiro Torres introduced constitutional amendments tending to extend Catholicism, including Catholic tuition in all schools, and the abolition of the divorce law. Another deputy declared that the Republican constitution treated the Catholic Church like a dog. "God must be re-establishecl in the family, school and constitution to save the country from ruin," he said.

Another bill proposes a drive against illiteracy, 00 per cent of tlie population being unable to read or write. The plan provides for the installation of 40,000 radio receiving sets in every city and village square, surrounded by chairg and tables for listeners to the lessons. The cost woiJld be £150,000.