CORRESPONDENCE. CATHOLICS AND SCHOOLS. TO THE EDITOB.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 65, 18 March 1911, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE. CATHOLICS AND SCHOOLS. TO THE EDITOB.

Sir, — Whilst the education question is being fought out in your editorial and correspondence columns, in the good old mediaeval fashion, by two picked champions, all your former Catholic correspondents are naturally loth to obtrude themselves upon the public. But perhaps you will allow me to give am answer to one of the three "interesting" correspondents whose letters appeared in your issue of the 15th inst. ' We understand, sir, that this is a legitimate fight upon which we have entered. With all the courtesy of medieval chivalry, the glove has been eagerly proffered at the point of the lance, and has been as eagerly a.ecepted. Sign and portent podnt unmistakeably to the fact that never did brave knight battle for his fair lady more firmly than will denominationalists and secularists fight for their principles. And we understand too, I hope, that he who goes to war must be" ready for the chances of wax, and must' be prepared to receive as well as to give hard knocks. But, sir, there is such a thing as legitimate warfare; war has its laws; there are things which may fairly be done, and things which may not be done. There are some weapons which good men and true should never have recourse to, and such a one is the insinuation made by your correspondent, "Agnostic," that the Church "is making a very good thing out of its schools.'"' This slanderous charge he bolsters up by the equally slanderous one that the Catholic Church "extracts payment from Catholic parents for their tuition, which costs it nothing, the teaching bedone by members of the various religious orders." One's first emotion on reading such statements is one of contemptuous pity for such crass ignorance, but it is possible that others may entertain such ungenerous ideas, and' for the enlightenment and confusion of one and all, the true facts of the case may fitly be stated once more. Such statements or insinuations are, sir, like the sculptured imagery of the pendulous lamp in Christabel, "All carved from the carver's brain." For surely the veriest tyro in this subject of education must know what a huge burden our school system has proved to be for priests and teachers and people. -We have to find the money for the purchase of the sites, for the building, equipping, and repairing of the schools, and last, but not least, for the salaries of j the teachers. The suggestion of "Agnostic" is that [ the Church levies a tax, enforced by spiritual compulsion; that it uses this tax, in part, presumably, for the build- | ing and equipping of the schools ; that it withholds the well-earned salaries from ! the teachers, and that the clergy sit and [ grow bulky in charming mansions ; with the greater part of this tax. The suggestion, even were it true, and tenfold more because it is totally and hopelessly i untrue, is not to the point in the present discussion. But with that aspect of the matter I am not concerned at present. The true facts of the case are that the ' tax levied is a perfectly voluntary one, i that many do not pay it, and are not expected to pay it, and yet have their children brought up in Catholic schools, that this tax is used not only for building and repairing, but also to pay the salaries of our devoted sisters and brothers; that in most cases this tax is insufficient, and has to be supplied, and is supplied most generously, out of the moneys offered by the congregations for the support of their pastors. So that instead of being a source of revenue to the Church, her schools hare proved to be a formidable drain on her resources, keeping her from exerting • her influence in' many other directions of moral and social improvement. I am in a position to quote facts and figures not only confiiming my statements but emphasising them in such a way that even the eyes of "Agnostic" and "Hibernian" might possibly open to the heroic spirit of sacrifice displayed by our priests and nuns alike, in their unflinching determination to carry on their Catholic schools, at whatever cost. But let this suffice; and, in conclusion, let me say, sir that my only regret is that it is not in the .power of 'human nature to feel sympathy for the man who starts out to prove you a knave and ends by proving himself a fool. — I am, etc., B.J.G. Wellington, 17th March, 1911. TO XHE EDITOTI. " Sir, — Will you allow mo to add to the varied correspondence that" is appearing in your paper on this much-vexed question? Our secular educational system is open to anyone, and if any choose to have a, system of their own, why, should the State be called upon to pay? It) is guit 1 © obvious that once the State starts a precedent- in that manner, a great deal of trouble and expense would be the result. We have a fair sprinkling of Confucians, Buddhists, Mohammedans, etc., in the Dominion; now, what is to stop them from demanding the same as the Catholics, and no one can deny that they would be quite within their rights. The trouble is that the- Catholics do not want to educate the people, and it is only because they reside in a. country where compulsory education is the law of tho land. The State supplies the schools and the Catholics say : "Wo do not wish to send our children to them, we prefer to have a system of our own end the State must pay." All right, tthe State is quite willing to pay if the children are sent to the State schools, and if each denomination has the same privileges that the Catholic* are after, our secular system wil l b& split up in many different sects. It, "the Church," is not consistent. It teaches tolerance in t, couut<ry wher& it is -in the minority and intolerancs where it has the balance of power. Spain can be held up as an example as to whether the Church wishes to educate the people. For about 1500 years they have had the teaching, and what is the result to-day? The remarkable percentage of 68 to 70 p«T cent, of the people are illiteratfe. Why, even the much calumniated pagan Rome did better thau that in a far shorter space of time, for wherever she conquered she set up schools, and taughi to the best of her ability. It is about time that th& people of this country should awake to the fact of the lurking danger that 13 in their midst, for it has been many times described as the thin edge of the wedge for the splitting up of the secular system of education. — I am, etc., VERITAS PREVALEBIT. 16th March, 1911.