ARCHAIC LAWS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18635, 9 March 1926, Page 9

ARCHAIC LAWS.

FOR SUPPRESSION OF CATHOLICS. MOVEMENT FOR ABOLITION. (B* . (Sydney."Sun" SxavtcE.) LONDON, March 7. That a Roman. Gatholio priest- is liable to b"e- fined 20s ; if he officiates in a church containing a steeple and a bell is revealed in a Bill, which MrD. H. Herbert,. Anglican 81.P'., is introducirtg on March 10th. The aim of the Bill is the abolition of archaic laws" directed against Roman Catholics,, most of which originated in the reign of Elizabeth,, and are never nowadays enforced. Tha laws include various fines and penalties if a priest is seen wealing; clerical garb in the streets, or participates ifi furieral3 except in private houses ot Roman Catholic cathedrals. The Bill also places Raman Catholic cfiarities ott an equal footing with others regarding exemption front ifl-, come-tax, and removes- present, legal difficulties regarding: bequests to Roman Catholic religious' bodies. Mr Herbert points out that it does not interfere with th© succession' to the Crown and similar Acts, nor the disputed question of whether a Roman Catholic can. of England. - TO FIGHT SPIRITUALISM. [ (AOSIBALIAir ABD 3f.Z. CASM ASSOCUttOH.) i LONDON, March 7. A new Roman Catholie Society, sup(ported, by Cardinal Bourne and.many Roman Catholic archbishops and bishops, is launching .an organised * countrywide campaign against spiritualism, which is described as a dangerous cult, aiming root and branch at the destruc- ! tion of Christianity. The late Bishop Salford claimed that spiritualism was responsible for a large leakago from Roman Catholicism,