"ORGANISE!" ADVICE TO CATHOLICS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24, 30 January 1911, Page 3

"ORGANISE!" ADVICE TO CATHOLICS.

THE EDUCATION QUESTION. VIGOROUS SPEECHES. Archbishop Redwood spoke most forcibly yesterday at the opening of the Marist Brothers' Te Aro School, on the claims of Roman Catholic citizens to Jj'.ore consideration in the matter of Education grants. After touching upon the leadiug part played by the Roman Catholic Church irom the very beginning of Christianity co to-day, his Grace said the Church had ever regarded education as the apple of eye. "Catholics," hs said, have never asked, and will never ask, one penny from the State to help Catholic propaganda, or as a remuneration for teaching Catholic doctrine ; but Catholics, in the name of justice and fair play, do demand equal wages for equal work. "They demand that as they .educate half the Catholic children of the Dominion in their own schools, at their own expanse, and spare the taxpayers thousands, and, in the long run, millionE of pounds sterling, they should have the money they spare the Government aud the taxpayers refunded to them for the secular knowledge up to the Government standard and under Government examination, which they impart to at least half their children in the Dominion. "A GALLING GRIEVANCE." "They should not be fined and oppressed for imparting one item of education beyond the secular curriculum required by the State when that item is the most important of all, to form 'the very citizens of whom the State and society at large stand most in need, viz., men and women who will be God-fear-ing, law-abiding citizens — men and women to be relied upon as uncompromising foes of everything dishonest i'nd corrupt — who can be depended upon to support only a clean and free adminisfcrta:ou oi public affairs. Until the day dawns when this galling grievance is removed and* the just claims acknowledged and granted, they are determined to maintain the struggle in the cause of God and religion. "A GROUNDLESS FEAR." | "But, it may be said — and it is said j publicly — if Catholics receive grants for | their schools, even on the plea of the secular knowledge they impart;, other dDnominations will make similar claims, and thus good-bye to the secular systehis throughout the Dominion. Nothing of the sort ! It is a false and gioundless fear. Why so ? Because the other denominations have practically accepted the secular system, have no conscientious grievance similar to our own. have made no sacrifices of money for the establishment of separate schools like ours, and therefore have n0... claim that any wise government would listen to for a moment. "But supposing that other denominations taught and encouraged by the example of Catholics, were in future to begin to make sacrifices and set up separate schools of their own, while sparing the taxpayers vast sums per annum, as they did, why then education would gain, and the country at large would be equivalently benefited ; and if this led ultimately to the destruction of the secular system, it would only prove one thing : that the secular system is' not in accordance with the public opinion of the Dominion, and therefore ought "?i a democracy to be abolished." " MR. KENNEDY'S COUNSEL. Catholics must organise and make themsel'/es a political power, was the burden of Mr. Martin Kennedy's remarks. It might be asked, he saidj whether the remarks of his Grace the Archbishop would have any effect on legislation. Would they have any practical outcome. (No, no). He feared not, under present conditions. Things were all mixed up with politics nowadays. Education .seemed now to be a matter of politics. The question was asked : What would the granting of this or that do for politics ? If a trades union went to Parliament, was it heard ? Yes. If a Catholic deputation went to Parliament, would it be Jieard ? ( No. Why 'i Because the Catholics were not organised, had not the unity in the same way as the trades unions had. Unity was required j <md power — not until the Catholics had unity and power would they be heard. It was useless proclaiming ths amount spent by Catholics on education. That would not do anything like the good that unity would do when •fc came to going to Parliament for justice. Not till then was there any hope of amelioration of their grievance. It was a grievance — nay, a persecution, that a minority should be treated as Catholics were treated in regard to education. In Great Britain Catholics were heard, and there their proportion was very much less than one-seventh — the proportion in New Ze?land. 1 A START MADE. A starf had been made, he was glad j to Bay, towards promoting the power, the unity among Catholics which would I eecure for them a respectful hearing. And that in such a way as they would ; be able, when they did make a demand, to have something behind that demand. '"One-seventh of the population — the Catholic proportion — could not v eturn a number of members to Parliament large enough to be cf matt-rial etrength. Nevertheless, if organised, they could support men in the House who would be favourable to them — men, he observed. \sho need not necessarily be of the Catholic faith ; because for years to come only a very few could find their way into Parliament. But if they had sufficient organication they could do as Cardinal Moran had said : turn out the Government of the day. (Cheers.) And if one-seventh of the population were organised there waa no reason why that could not be done in New Zealand today. (Cheers.) They vrere not .committing themselves to being either Conservatives or Liberals, but they could hold any political views they liked, and yet fight for the cause of education. At St. Anne's Church, Xev/town, yes-, terda-y. the Yen. Archdea-con Devoy urged on Catholics the need for organisation in regard to municipal and Parliamentary matters. They had in the pjst, he said, been given credit for being well-organised ; as a matter of fact they had no organisation, and it was time for them to be up and doing. He spoke of the disabilities under which Catholics suffered in regard to education, referring particularly to scholarships.

To secure reliable information and statistics as regards incomes and cost of living of workers within the-- Dominion, the Labour Department forwarded to the board of management of the Wellington Typographical Union copies of its " Weekly or Monthly Statement of Income and Expenditure" books, asking the board to get members' co-operation in order to secAe the desired object of the department, which stated that the information, if supplied, would be regarded as conlidentkl so far as the supplier's naxac was concerned. The hoard declined to have anything to do with the proposal r.s it involved rir=2 distinctions and was too inquisitorial.