LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 89, 8 January 1908, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE PIPERS. • Maister Aiditor.—l am no! what ye wad ca' acacoothes scribcudi,'' b.ut, gin yet permit me, I maun tell yo how my auld oars wcro gladdened, yin Sabbath morn, by tho soun' o'' tha bngpipes, as played by the Wellington Pipo Band, when tho company 0' Wellington Highlanders mnirched to the kirk.' Tho pipers wore led by a bonnie young loon p' a drum-major, wha had twa field service s medals on . his breast. Eli, mon, Maister Aiditor, but 110 was: a young chiel yoii, "to 1 hao twa-, fechtin', medals. It was a gran' aud bonnie sight, to an aiild war horse like'masel', to liao a keek at thae-honnio pipers, faultlessly attired in tho uniform 0' my auld rogiment, tho Ross-shiro Buffs, and listen ta thoir grand music. ' It garred ma thocht3 gang back to lang, lang syne (when I was .a bra callant masel') to the ramparts and Rcsidoncy at Lucknow, to-where-the soun' o' the pipes 0' tho 78th Highlanders (under Havelock) was wafted as a messenger 0' deeliveranco, high ab'oon tho rattle 0' Nana Sahib's Sepoy's musketry. Awcel, Sir, when ail aul soger hears the pipes ho is apt to wander into dreamland, and thinks 0' tho'so stirring times, long sj-ne, when the pipes played no mean part in. checrin' us Scotties—ay, an' Sassenachs, too—to victory. I maunna alloo ma pen to run riot and talc up your space, but I wad like to say that ma son sleeps in- the mools at Elandslaagte, where the kind-hearted pipers 0' tho 92nd Highlanders (God-bless thorn) wrapped up his corp in Scoaland's flag and played " Lochaber no more" at his cairn. Will the pipers 0' Wellington dae tho samo for me when the time comes? It winna be lang noo. Tak' a sneeshun, Mr. Aiditor, and jiist put this in a sma' corner 0' your guid paper.—Yours, etc.,.' ' ' , ' "SAHIB KA MAI/AJI." Wellington, January 6, 1908. 1 THE LATE CARDINAL NEWMAN AND MISCALLED "MODERNISM," ' ; Sir, —1 noticed in' your church news' columns last.week a letter signed .by'a'Mr. T. Williams, "in the name of a number of liberal Catholics," and to many outside readers the letter is very as. is the agitation re the so-called "Modernism" movement at Homo. - It is a miserable attempt to embroil the name of Cardinal Newman in a very hoary discussion' which has been dealt with time after time by tho Vatican". Tho position is plain. Newman, Manning, and other notable converts wore only too well vorsed in the isms,, etc., which woro prevalent at tho timo, and they studied the whole question of Catholicism for thoir absolute peace of mind and conscience, and hart nothing to gain from tho worldly stand-' point. They w_ero great men before they entered tho Church, and great men when they died.; Father Tyrrell and the vory few of his ilk in their early studies of logic and moral and-dogmatic theology. had. a very, serious and severe course to follow in,tho reviewing of isms, heresies, otc.,-and, as I have stated before, tho subject is a very old ono. \ Tho Curia has always, been ablo to deal with these matters effectively, and has mado no errors in the last pronouncement.. Hjs Holiness, when speaking to tho world, uses the braius of tho Church, and does not require the sympathy (?) meted out. to'him by somo writers. True Catholics have always welcomed tho pronouncements, and'a great number' of us would like to see a greater firmness, if possible, exerted. Tho advisers of the Holy Father aro men respected and admired for their excellont researches, greatness of mind, etc., and if some of tho smaller elemontsof the Church—to wit, Father Tyrrell, Mr. T. Williams, etc. —cannot seo thoir way to subscribo to the teachings, . their course is clear and definite, viz.: .chooso some form of beliof more congenial to their tastes and ideas, or do what lots of others - have' ,-a .-fresh cult.. . ..

This is not tho first occasion tho late Cardinal Newnian has. been _ misrepresented,-and the following letter,, written by him to tho father of the/present Archbishop of.'Westminster,. who also was a convert to Rome, explains his true and' inward, feolings to tho Church. It was.!written in; reply to a r query as to whether; his Eminence was ..a dissatisfied Catholic, which was stated-by a certain section. It is as follows:— .;=

• ■. Maryvale, Juno 13, 1848/ Dear Sir, return an immediate, though hasty .answer to your inquiry, which mad.o me more than smile. It is wonderful .that people can satisfy themselves rumours, which tho' slightest examination would disprove ; but I have had experience of it long beforo I was a Catholic. ' At'present tho very, persons who saw .through and reprobated the evangolical 1 misrepresentations concerning mo, when I was in the Church of England, bolievo of mo, things quite as extravagant and as unfounded. Iheir experienco has taught them nothing. I can only say, if it is necessary.to say it, that from tho niomont I became a Catholic, I v never God's grace, a single doubt or misgiving on my mind that I did wrong in becoming one. I have not had any feeling but one of!joy and gratitude that God callcd mo out of an insecure stato into one which is safe and suro, out of the war of tongues into a realm of peace and assurance. I shrink to contemplate the guilt I should have incurred, and tho account which at tho last day would have been lain against mc had I not become a Catholic; and it pierces mo to tho heart to think that so many excellent persons should be kept- in bondage in. tho Church of England, and should, among the many good points they have, want tho graco of faith,_ to trust 'God and follow his leadings. This is my stato of mind, and I.would it could bo brought homo to all and ovoryono, who, in default of real arguments' , for. remaining Anglicans, amuso themselves with dreams and fancies.—l -am, dear sir, truly yours, John H. Newman. _ Such was Newman's opinion, and tho" position of matters is just the samo to-day as-re-gards obedience to the Authority of the Church. Apologising for trespassing at .such length.—l am,etc., A GENUINE CATHOLIC. Wellington, January 4, 1908..'

1 SOCIALISM. 7 v Sir,—l read some few days ago in your valuablo paper, and with much pleasure, an apparently condensed report of an-address given by Sir William Robson, K.C., at South Shields (England), on this, at tho moment •—both at' Homo and abroad—highly important question, a question' which, I voiituro to think, is taxing the minds of many of our most ablo legislators. Sir William Robson is both an ablo thinker and an eloquent speaker, and always expresses himself in torso but explicit and lucid langua2o, as ho did on the occasion roferred to. It is said, or at any rate implied, here in tho by many eminent men, both Mem•bers of the House and out of it—all able •and would-bo ablo politicians—that Socialism .is becoming rampant- amongst us. Labour associations, it is true, aro propounding their views, in no mistakablo vein, and trades unions arc .following suit or going ono better,, all seemingly, aiming for tho one goal, viz.: Socialism pure and simple. Let, I say, all thinking people of every trades denomination read and study such speeches as that mado by Sir William Robson, and think over such conciso and tronchant remarks as his, /going, as ho docs, dircct to tho crux of tho wholo Socialistic problem, and then I feel satisfied that many of our colonists will think twico boforo throwing in their lot with any stich modern delusion as Socialism. Gathering, as I do, from tho press that our present Dominion Government is Progressive and not Socialistic, and though Socialism is clearly making strides at Home (but only, I beliovc, as a sort of porfiinctory (lash-in-thc-pan), let it not bo said of tho Dominion of New Zealand that sho is even beginning to dabble in Socialism, when, to my mind, sho has at the moment and for somo time in the future, too much else to do. First of all to put her own house in order, and beyond and above all that to endeavour to maintain and uphold tho prostigo sho has already, and particularly lately, attained.— I am, etc., NOMEN. Wellington, January C.