THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11012, 9 July 1901, Page 4

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

In his sermon addressed to the Orange Institution on Sunday, Bishop Julius laid especial etrees on the manner in which Roman Catholics were first securing the bulk of religious education in tEis colony and secondly the extent to which they were acquiring political influence. In illustration of the second point he said that.only the other day a woman had spoken to him about her son who desired to secure an appointment, and who, she said, if he were only a Eomau Catholic, would get it immediately. In regard to religious education, as the Bishop pointed out, the Roman Catholics are securing the bulk of it, because they alone apparently have sufficient belief in its value to pay for it out of their own pockets. For this self-sacrifice and consistency they deserve all honour, and the Bishop frankly gave it to them. That they are also gradui ally acquiring a good deal of political influence in this colony, and a very large share of the appointments that axe going in the Government departments, is a fact which has been notorious for some time to anyone that is behind the scenes. As regards fhe appointments in the Civil Service, the railway, and Postal Departments, the Police Force, and so fortieths real question which affects the public is whether the fact of belonging to a particular religious denomination is taken into account in considering the rival merits of different candidates. In the English Civil Service' appointments are made solely on the results of competitive examinations, and a question of this sort could not arise. . If it turned out that 93 per cent, of those appointed to the English Civil Service in any one year were Roman. Catholics, even Mr Kensit could not compHtin— it would simply show that the Roman Catholic candidates were cleverer or better coach- « 4 tiaa .their Prow«tMit rivals. In New

Zealand, where we Kave a ESnirtry -which gkries in its complete adoption of the "spoils to the. victors* , system, the case is quite different-. The appointments are awwedjy given, wna , evßr' , possible, to Xhtna <>£ the "right; colour," and we can hardly be surprised if those of the "right religion" are specially fcvouyed also. It, is wull known that a boy cannot even be taken into the Addington workshops without Ministerial approval. Common-sense would dictate that when a-vacancy occurred ,the manager should have a free hand to select the best of those available oh his list- As a matter of fact, .the brightest boy of the lot has no chance as against political influence. He

must earwig the- local members, and if possible the Minister himself, with whom, the appointment rests. A large number of hands have been taken on in the Railway Department during the last year or two, and if an accurate return were made it would probably be found that a very large proportion of these were of the same religion as the Minister at the head. We do not see how any other result could be expected under the "spoils to the victors" system. Primarily it would lead to persons of the "right colour" politically being selected. If there are two candidates, both of the "right colour," one Protestant and the other Roman Catholic, and no very marked difference in their capabilities was apparent in other respects it is no wonder if the Roman Catholic gets the post. Human nature ia built that way. ' And it so happens that although the Roman Catholic vote is not quite a block vote, as the Bishop seems to imagine, yet the present Government got a great deal of Roman Catholic support at the last election. So long as the "spoils to the victors" system is in vogue they, in common with other Ministerial supporters, naturally expect their reward. The only remedy so far as we can see is to sweep away the "spoils to the victors" system altogether. Let men be appointed to all positions in, the. Government service, from the highest to the humblest, upon merit alone. Let neither religious creed nor political colour enESr into the calculation. There are several reforms which the electors of this colony ought to insist upon, but if we

are to be saved from utter corruption, the one wei. have indicated is the most important and the most pressing.