TO THE CATHOLIC ELECTORS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8651, 28 November 1893, Page 6

TO THE CATHOLIC ELECTORS.

[Pkr Favour of the " Press."] Ladies a„d Gentlemen, — The contest vhich is to be decided to-morrow will Le for you the most momentous which has ever taken place ia the history of this colony. For sixteen years you have been trying to make yoar voices heard and your grievances known, but during all those dreary years -he Pro:.slants oi New Zealand turned a deaf ear to yoar appeals. They bore with the most delightful resignation the wrongs under which you groaned. They saw you build yoar schools and educate your own :_._. Iren—and theirs also, but they made no move. They took your money, for it lightened the burden on their own shoulders, and if you protested against the ir.justice it only proved your rank contataaiy. You had no right to resist the laws to which your consciences refused to yield obedience. What business had you of consciences- or of anything else which your Protestant neighbours did not approve of. Your cause was an unpopular one, and no man who had an antipathy to rotten eggs or pellets of flour would touch it on any public platform in the colony. But, in Christchurch at least, all this is iiaaged, and your cause is now taken up and advocated by men whose love of justice and fair piay has made them eloquent __ yoar defence. Blinded by the-prejudices of 300 years, it fas little wonder if your Protestant fellow----f>n_£t_ should deny your claims for justice and n_i.underst3.nd your intentions in edu--atii_g your children out of your own t rivate pockets. By a singular obliquity of .-ision those who affected to believe that you rranted State aid to support your religion -Ailed to see that if this was true of yon, ti-at they are now getting State aid to support theirs ; but, of course, bigotry is never lOjiicaL Lately, however, your pause has been laid before the public of th_3 town with a lingular lucidity, and pleaded with tha anility of a deep tbinker. The number of your opponents is gradually decreasing, and j tiieir influence is becoming circumscribed. Men may now advocate v_uc .ause with every hope of- getting a patient hearing. For this desirable mange in public opinion you are mainly, if tot entirely, indebted to the Editor of Tntth, When Mr Evison first took up your cause he was listened to with impatience and pronounced a bore. What right had he to make his paper the medium for ventilating your grievances? But Mr Evison heeded not, he saw that your claim was a just one and refused to trim his sails to suit the popular breeze. With incisive logic he placed yonr claims for State aid for your schools before the public until at last the public have come to recognise these -.aims as just and fair and equitable. You therefore owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr Evison, and it is to be hoped that the resub of to-morrow's polline will let him see that you are not ungrateThere is a plain issue before yon tomorrow, and if you be true to yourselves, j and to the cause you have at heart, will let your enemies see—you will let those ' men who would climb over your shoulders to power and place and fortune see—that -ne religious and moral training of your ! children and the support of your schools are for you paramount considerations. I*t no side issues divide you, but go straight tor the three men selected for you bythe Kegistration Committee. Let no appeals to your prejudices turn you aside fromTo_r p-a.-po-e. H yon lose this ch._nce to send in your pledged supporters you may never -gain have such another. It is for youa question of the most vital importance, beause not only are the welfare and happinea ot your children affected by the re__lttf to-morrows elpctioa, but your pockets and yonr incomes will suffer by your supine. Public opinion is now largely in y oa r favour, if you make good use of it; ««[ JT justice to your own best interests, in justice to yoar children, in justice to the cause of religious teaching in your schools, vote for Evison, Hoban, and George.—Yours, Sec One who is in the Ksow! Christchurch, .November 27th.