EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY.

Evening Star, Issue 8789, 1 April 1892, Page 4

EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY.

TO THK KI'ITOH. SiK,--VVhen Mr Braithwaite deprecated tho reproduction of factß a few centurieß old, I expected him to show that there was no parallel between them and modern facta, but he did not. It may be well for us to look at some facts taken from what may be termed " the living present" on this point, and from them gather an idea of what Roman Catholic schools really produce. The Hon. John Jay, of America, contends that statistics " incontestibly establish, both in Europe and America, that they produce a large excess of crime, pauperism, and illiteracy over Protestant schools." He quotes from the Toronto ' Mail' (13th November, 1886): "Of the common people not one in twelve can read the simplest seatonsc, and the bulk of them know little or nothing beyond the duties imposed by the church." Also the 'Catholic Times' (17th April, 1885) says : " Our people, though forming less than onethird of the population of Liverpool, constitute nearly one-half of the total number of prisoners." He further quotes the Right Hon, Mr Cross, who, on the 23rd July, 1877, said: "In Scotland, where the Roman Catholics in 1871 amounted to onetwelfth of the population, about one-third of all the prisoners were Roman Catholics." Father Mtiller, in America, and Father Nugent, in EDgl&nd, both admit that by far the larger proportion of street-girls were Roman Catholics—" nine out of ten," said Father Nugent. «The Tablet' (London) of November, 1888, expressed astonishment to find " that the percentage of juvenile criminals of Catholic parentage was out of all proportion in England to the relative Roman Catholic population." Dexter A. Hawkins, of New York, in 1876, wrote to the • Monthly Paper' to point out that from a oareful perusal of the statistics of 1870 the Roman Catholic parochial school system produced pers, 410; criminals, 160 to the 10,000 inhabitants ; whilo the public school system produced—llliterates, 350 j paupers, 170; criminals, 75 to the 10,000 inhabitants. Mr William Wheeler, lawyer, of Chicago, has supplied the following comparative statistics, whioh tell their own story—placiog eight Roman Catholic countries against the same number of Protestant countries to show the illiteracy :-

Thus it appears that in the eight Roman Catholic countries, which have an average of 91,3 per cent, of the population under the sway of the Romish system, they have 59.$ I per cent, of illiterates, against Protestant States which show an average of 79.78 per cent. Protestants, with only 4.156 per cent, of illiterates. This must satisfy for examples. Many more could be produced of the same sort. The education of the Church of Rome does not tend to culture in any part of the w»r)d. Its special aim is the extension of ecclesiastical pontrol, never the benefit of the people. It is only undertaken in countries where there is a danger of the publio school system proving a source of weakness to the power of the hierarchy over the common people. The Private Schools Bill would be the first step to several more whioh would be immediately demanded for unrestricted control by thp priests.—l am, etc., Teaohbb, Dunedin, March 29.

1 X of I x of Area of Popula- Cafcho-Illlte-miles. tlon. ilea, rates. 1 1 II Venezuela 439,120 2,075,245 90.0 90.0 Austria-Hungary 240,942 39,224,511 67.6 32.0 France 204,092 38.218,903 78.5 26.0 Brazil 3,219,000 19,922,376 990 84.0 Spain Portuzal .. 197,707 16.95S.178 99 0 60 0 36.028 4,708,178 99.0 82 0 Belgium .. 11,373 5,520.008 99.0 42.0 Italy 110,620 28,459,628 99.0 61.94 %of iTjteitante Victoria 87,881 1,009,753 73.0 0.036 Sweden 170,979 4,682,769 99.0 0.30 Switzerland 15.892 2.846,102 69.0 0 30 Netherlands 12,648 4,336,012 66.0 10.50 Germany .. 211,149 46,852.680 62 6 1.27 Denmark .. 14,121 1,980,259 99.0 0 36 Great Britain .. 88,30] 30,066,646 93.3 11.09 United States .. 3,501,404 67,928.609 86.4 9.40