PEOFESSOR DICKIE'S CHALLENGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17375, 24 July 1918, Page 3

PEOFESSOR DICKIE'S CHALLENGE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin,—Professor Dickie shows no justification for the desecration of o. Christian church in using it for a political meeting, and ho trios to draw a red herring across the scent by offering an apology for his insults to tho Roman Catholics Church if I can show him any one neutral country predominantly Roman Catholio where the Roman priesthood have not boon openly pro-German. But, I take it that, as Professor Dickie and his colleagues have mado these charges against the Roman Catholics, tho onus of proof lies with them. Professor Dickie suggests that I should take some pains to acquaint myself into the real situation—that is the situation as seen from his bigoted: view. We are. not. however, discussing tho relations between France and tho Vatican, but those insults burred bv these Presbyterians ministers against Roman Catholics generally from tho shelter of the pulpit. I maintain that thev are not " playing the game"; it is not "cricket." If these good men. followers and teachers of the Gospel of Christ,' still wish to stir up strife amongst Christians at this most inopportune time, let them come out into tho open from their dugout, and hold forth in some public hall where applause or dissent can be expressed "without desecrating God's house. Whether tho views of Professor Dickie and Mr Davies on Roman Catholicism are right or wrong. I maintain mv protest airainst using a Christairi church for a political meeting. I abo fail to find any proof for the Professor's statement "that the very fact that Catholic priests are fighting in the national cause is itself sufficient nroof that our brave Allies have had more thin eiionprh of tho Pope in national and political matters." Rccluctio ad absurdum ! Professor Dickie's cool nssnranro that tho only difference between us is that ho and Mr D'lvios are lo==i ererhilons and better informed than myself is amusing.—l am. etc., July 22. Axgey Photestaxt. SCHOLARSHIPS TN PRIVATE SCHOOLS. TO THE KDITOH. Sir,—As reported in tho newspaper, a motion was brought forward at the monthly meeting of tho King Edward Teclinical College to petition the Government to cancel all scholarships in private schools. What was intended, no doubt, was to ask the Government not to grant any further scholarships to sectarian schools. The proposer explicitly stated that the motion (from his point of view) was in the interests of everybody, with no special privileges for anybody, and was submitted by him as a matter of principle, and not on religious or sectarian grounds. Tho Now Zealand Journal of Education of June, writing on this subject, argued that the national system of education is in dangei if scholarships are held in sectarian schools, and drew attention to the fact that, out of a total of 800 scholarships, ]8 are now held at private schools and four at endowed schools; this being an increase of 17 or more scholarships at private schools since the year 1914. The Journal of Education adds:—"The thin end of the wedge of disruption has been inserted. The hope of tho iconoclasts is the shattering of the non-sectarian foundation of the present system, the whole super-structure may bo brought to ruin, and from the ruins there may bo erected a multiplicity of small, ill-equipped, warring sectarian schools." If that is a just fear, it should not be passed by unnoticed. The national "system of education aims at being purely non-sectarian, and it scorns a pity _ to spoil that scheme by making any exception whatsoever. Tho country agrees as a whole (perhaps not very cordially," but nevertheless it agrees) on a national nonsectarian system of education, whereas the slightest concession to any denominational school, one way or tho other, causes infinite trouble. Now Zealand started with a clean slate: lot her keep to it. I cannot see that the churches have anything to grumble about. It is not as if scholarships were granted to children of very tender years. The religious education of children should bo on a fair way by the time tho pupils gain tho distinction of a scholarship, and tho denominationalists should have a fair hold on them by that time.—l am. etc., Dunedin. July 22. Citizen.