CHURCH AND SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1051, 14 February 1911, Page 6

CHURCH AND SCHOOLS.

1 4 r--, V-.-POSITION OF.ROMAN CATHOLICS. SPEECH BY BISHOP GRIMES; \ •. 037 Teleßrash—Press Association.) ■ '1' ' 7 5.1; Chrlstchurch, February 13. * •AUtho opening ceremony at St. Bedo's ■ *i" Collcgiato School • yesterday, Bishop 'i. Grime's complaincd strongly, of the man- / . ' ner.ji in which the . Iloman Catholic ; educational institutions of the Dominion ....... had been treated by tho Government. In thciiftdiocese, said tho Bishop, they had 27 primary schools, with 2700 pupils. |. - There, were also eight high schools for I'• .' girlsl'.'with an attendarico of 500, making J . altogether 3200 children who were taught, I-. v .'and jtaught, by 100 of their I devoted teachers. 'Inn Government prim*i ary: schools had a total attendance of | 141,837 pupils, and ; the cost per pupil I was 724 Bs. The day beforo ho; had receivcd a blue book from Wellington, I'whiii .perhaps contained . more, recent [i liguifcs than the ones he was; quoting, I'' but', lack of timo had mado it impossible -■ for \ him to analyse the figures of tho ■ , bluof.book, and his analysis referred to n: last.lycar's statistics. ' The totalr cost of • primary education in. State schools was »' ' ■ -CG4IJBIO. In the Catholic primary schools I. there! was a total "attendance of 12,000 f ; for'tno"education of which the Governtl ' lnenc; would, in tho ordinary course of i evCDts.' have to pay Xl Bs. per head,,or lr >. • The • Government ' secondary rchools had an attendance of 4000 pupils, [. , at a. cost of .£ll per head, .bringing the I totnl 'in this up 'to JC45.000. | < Tho fsalaries paid to teachers in sccond- [ aiy'Schools for 1909 totalled .£20,501. Tho [.■<;> Catholic primary schools in the diocese h .on :.t.ho averago. cost of per head p•. for-1700 pnpils.'.' Ijeaving out tho second-; f 1 aryfschools would 'iring.-thoiomountiup J,, -to The secondary.'siho()ls;Avith'. . an attendance 0f.500, at tho cost of XII [! • per head, -' would'give a total of JCSSOOJ i - . Then thero wero also the schools • in Is ■ - Westland. There the Catholic schools J had 825 children attending them, and the !• oost.of these Bs. per head would fci . inean' : il3B3o. - - -During- tno"-paSt-*tliiriy--f - fourVyears , of ; the. secular system, the > amount saved the Government by the

t Cath'olicsin tho dioceso of Christchurch ;>■ amounted t0..£340,000, aiid in Wostland to f ' total 'of X4l2,ooo,"molUTi't;© iff: buildings,,' repairs, :etc: -The amount, i ,saved 'the.Government by tho Catholics f." 'of tho'Dominion for tho tamo number of [' ■ ydars reach a gross . total of at least f.' .£1,250,000. This amount had'.been saved | . '"by tho .Government; and yet tho Governf ■ ment was doing what it was doing to-day. p. Ho would' bo thoijlast.ono in tho wrld'to [' refuse do recognise. what "Dominion r . ; , ■ of New: Zealand was doing for tho trainj, ing of tho young,,and he gladly accorded f j tho 'legislatOrs'the, mead of praise they | • deserved' in ; this respect.: Ho, did not ref v fusoitho mead-of praiso in'spito'of a Tel.i." cent!' Act of tho; Legislature, which .was I - -one of cruel'.unfairriess towards a'seventh [ • part of the population of Now Zealand— fi a law-abiding piirti and a part which J; Oiad to contribute-',largely'to the schools | . • whiob,' on the grounds of conscience,. it [• . could not avail itself of. 1 Ho supposed I , - that no one had greater; admiration than I . ho had. for. the personal nualities'of their I. a Preiiiier, but if they as Catholics had the' •. . honour: of having: at the head'of the Go- [•, -vernment ono of "their own religion, was [ V that: any j reason why * they should suffer ?, i. If lt'.wero an honour, it'was an honouc L : the Premier, had won by his own.personal [ worth; but this was no reason itfiy he I : and other members of. the Cabinet should (.•••»! forget it was their duty to deal out any > oiirsothat had; been 1 wop., By: favours L ■ ho did' not ■ mean , what was^generally. i t', meant by the word.' Ho had never:askf ,"I favoiurs' from"tho "'Government.': If. he' disposed .to ask a. favour, and it .v", were: possible,- ho'\xnld a thousand times 1*? 'J>ooner have gone to the late Premier than J-i,-v the .present' Premier, for the,solo reason t r > . . that, the latter gentleman' was-n Catholic; , but it, was tho duty of tho Premier'to 1 , , deal (out-justice and fairplay.to hisco- ' " «1) o !))fionists'aß ,well as to the rest of tho .pn'{l(i|j<if'l:New Zealand. - If they were S., Otily:one-seventh''of tho population,.they--1,, -.wero,.a„scventli.that.would have to boi t at ;lhe time of, the'l elecf tiobs. > Were, the Catholics inexcusable i or exceptional .in . what. , they, asked or ' : claimed'• as v, their" right - with ~ . legard i to' secular.'> instruction No. A: f.r -•Jittto >yMr ; .'ago.:iC conference'-was t ■ held which- was; attended, by "42 'Jnspeci . tors,.'and 40-out■ of tho 42 had r decided ' . thatrit would bo an act'of'justice and v . fmr play' that scholarships' should 'be ;, ■ open ,to all comets, and that those schol- [ arships should be held in the' schools :.s where-they were-taken; but-the Governt; -:• Jncnt; had not taken' that view of the' (~ •, * matter by a recent 'Act r - of-'' the • Legisla- }•." * u ' e - jHowever,,he;believed there,was a ■ f eaving.'clausb which'sitid it was left to the, l : :,.. school, .hoards. .todecide whether those f ...<. scholarships could be held, where they t .. or, not.-' The Marist.Bros. had, ■ - purchased the place, they ■ wero opening ; ■ that', day, 'and were' spendiig hundreds » > "'Pounds in making it a splendid school; t Why were they doing this?' Because of p.. , the spirit of faith which; told them that T, the people-could not' bo saved by any in- !,'. if tho Bible were 'left qut. ' hcculnr -instruction was truncated, • in-" | complete.if religion had no part in'it. , ! Monsigrior Fowler, \of lowa, U.S.A.,' [ whb was among the'dignitaries present on [■ the platform, said' that education with tlie | ! Catholics scattered.as they were throughj.' out the world meant .dovelopment of heart nnd mind, bringing out all that was good in nien,. but there could not bo real education with only developing the facultyof ■ tho i mind and leaving out the 1 heajt.- . • (Hcar,';hear.), Moreover, any person, man . woman, or/ child, who thought tliem- .! selves educated , and.: knew not God we're :. animals. • - - .. . -, . ' - G. Ell, H.P., said that the only / difficulty in granting'a subsidy to, any > .denomination was that all other denomi-, . ■ nations - would be entitled -■ to ■ That,would mean the,closing up of 'the . State schools,, and' he must say he coyld I : no ' agree to_ any .~ grant being-mado\to I' 5S 5 ' I ODO ro "?ious body' and not to others.'' ( With regard to tho university scliolari ships; their universities were open to f i. cry. section 'of. tho community. They ■ : - must keep: tho sectarian feeling out of [■ their schools, and if anyono felt'so strong I upon religion that ho did not desire to S; liavu his children,'taught .at" the Stat/t Fchoolj, then-he could take advantage of | the private schools. Ho believed, in ab- ]■ iolute freedom of religious worship.