MR ISITT'S BILL.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18461, 15 August 1925, Page 12

MR ISITT'S BILL.

CATHOLIC HIERARCHY PROTESTS. "SECTARIAN TRICKERY." (special to "the tress.") WELLINGTON, August 14. The Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops of New Zealand have issued a statement in regard to Mr Isitt's Bill for the introduction of a measuro of religion into purely secular schools in the Dominion. "We entertain no doubts," they state, "as to the sincerity and the fundamentally good intentions of the promoters of these and similar previous legislative proposals, but it is a matter of wonderment and grief to us that Catholics in this Dominion have been left for nearly fifty years to sustain almost alone tho real sacrifices of a Christian primary school system." Basis of Objection. They say that they have often expressed a desire to see the State system inado religious on fair conditions all round, but their offers have been ignored in tho present Bill. Tho movement, they add, has all along been a clerical one, and has failed, and they go on to point out tho flaws that have contributed to their rejection of the Bill. They object in tho first placo to the attempt to establish a sectional and exclusive established and endowed State religion for tho schools, which is no part of tho function of any Government. They say tho present legal facilities for roligious instruction in the schools are seriously inadequate, but point out that tho Catholic clergy have taken nearly eight times more proportional advantage of such facilities than tho clergy of tho denominations supporting the Bill. "An Unheroic Scheme." The present scheme they characterise as an unheroic scheme. to enable the clergy of these denominations to abdicate in part ono of the most sacred duties of the Christian ministry, and to impose it by law upon the shoulders of lay State officials or (failing thom) of School Committees. They object to preferential treatment, stating that on tho basis of figures published during I}he campaign of li>ll--1914 the annual cost of the proposed established State religion would be about £250,000. Conscientious Objectors. The Bill provides no exemptions for conscientiously objecting taxpayers. Its promoters thus demand a compulsory contribution by all kinds of consciences to satisfy the requirements of only one kind of religion. They further state that tho conscience clause for teachers is an illusory protection, which would exert upon Catholic and other objectors to violate their convictions and sell their souls for "bread and butter. The conscience clause for pupils they define as a clause devised by crafty proselytisers for the declared purpose of "weaning the Irish from the abuses of popery," which would result in State proselytism. It is, in ' short, they say, "a disreputable instrument of sectarian trickery, and lacking in tho two chief elements of effective religious education, namely, definite religious instruction, and the still more vital matter of religious training. Lacking these, tho present proposals would fail to leave a definite and lasting religious impression on the rising generation. Lastly, they state that Parliament is the guardian and trustee of the peoplo's rights, including those of religion and conscience. We look with confidence to our Legislature to protect objecting citizens of every» class once more from the specified wrongs which the Religion in State Schools Bill would inflict upon them if passed into law.