The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, MAY 23, 1876.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 805, 23 May 1876, Page 5

The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, MAY 23, 1876.

The ' Xew Zealand Tablet,' the organ of the Roman Catholics in this Colony, is a vigorously conducted little newspaper : and when it has a grievance to air, it does not allow too strict a regard for the truth, or too close an observance of the rules of: logic, to stand in its way. The 'Tablet' has a grievance at the present time, and we are sorry to say that our contemporary appears to be in a very bad way. Some days ago a deputation waited upon his Honor the Superintendent for the purpose of asking that free railway passes might be granted to children attending Roman Catholic schools, the chief argument used in support of the request being that such passes were granted to children attending the Government schools. His Honor stated that what the deputation dsked was a small matter in itself, "but there was no use disguising the fact that it involved the whole question whether the State was to support Rational or Denominational education," Under the circumstances, he declined to give a definite reply to the deputation until he had consulted the members of the Executive. The result of fhafc consultation was, that his Honor refused to grant ii'qs railway passes to children attending Roman Cathqlic schools. In our opinion, the Executive was right in its decision upon this matter, for had the concession asked for by the deputation been granted, endless complications and difficulties might have arisen. The ' New Zealand Tablet' has taken a different view of the question, and in its last issue has given utterance to a howl of indignation at what it terms " a crying and most insulting injustice." We are aware of the fact that a large number of our Roman Catholic fellow-colonists regard the system of education in force in New Zealand as oppressive, for the reason that they cannot conscientiously send their children to the Government schools, where the instruction given is strictly secular. Some weeks ago, when Bishop Moran issued his Lenten Pastoral, he referred to the Education question, and we then complimented him upon the moderation he bad displayed in his remarks. "We are sorry we cannot extend a similar compliment $0 the ' 'JfoWet. 1 It i* useless? at tfc preseufr

time to enter at any length into the question whether the Roman Catholics have really any good reason to complain.; we'' would' simply point out to the ' Tablet' that nothing can be gained by the use of big words, and by misrepresentation of facts. Our contemporary says : — " The Government maintains at the public expense an anti-Catholic system of education, a system which is extremely narrow in its sectarianism, and from which practically all Catholics, both teachers and pupils, are excluded ; and in addition, in order the better to prop up this one-sided system, holds out the bribe of free passes on railways to the pupils who frequent its schools. Many avail themselves of the generosity of the Provincial Government, many too who cannot be placed in the ranks of the indigent classesUnder every point of view this is most unfair ; in fact it appears intolerable that the public atlargc should be compelled to provide not only cheap schools, but also free railway travelling for the children of well- to-do people." The sentences we have quoted arc simply a tissue of misstatements eminently calculated to lead all unprejudiced persons to the belief that the cause which requires to be bolstered up in such a manner must be a remarkably weak one. In the first place, the system of education maintained at the public expense is not "anticatholic " — we suppose our contemporary meant to say anti-Roman Catholic. There is nothing taught in the Government schools that could_,be reasonably expected to offend the most conscientious Roman Catholic parent, or place his children iv danger of having the tenets 'of their faith shaken in any way. The statement that our system of education is "extremely narrow in its sectarianism" is as ridiculous as it is untrue. In complaining that the children of persons who are well-to-do take advantage of the free railway passes given by the Government, the ' Tablet' only gets deeper into the mire, seeing that the cause of its wrath is the refusal of the Executive to grant free passes to the children of other well-to-do persons, who refuse to use the schools that have been provided by the Government. Our contemporary then says — " We know that it is said that Government schools are purely secular. If this were a fact, the objections of Catholics would not be removed by it ; on the contrary, their opposition would be rather increased. But such is not the fact. In Otago the system of public education prevailing at present is intensely sectarian. The Education Board is composed exclusively of Protestauts, nearly all, if not all, Presbyterians ; the teachers of all the schools in the Province are exclusively Protestant ; all the chief posts are held by Presbyterians ; indeed, nearly all the teachers are Presbyterians. To be sure, there are some infidels to bo found amongst them, for " Turk, Jew, or Atheist may enter here, but not a Papist ;" but nevertheless the complexion of the system is Presbyterian, the atmosphere is Presbyterian, and the system is as anti-Catholic as it can well be." We should be sorry to believe that the ' Tablet ' represented the feelings of the large number of intelligent Roman Catholic men and women in the Colony, or that the spirit of rank bigotry and untruthfulness in which the Hues we have quoted were penned, could be shared in by any considerable section of the community. It will be sccu from our Dunediu correspondent's letter that the Government has discontinued free passes to children attending the public schools, so that perhaps our Roman Catholic friends will now be satisfied.