THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1893. THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2460, 4 February 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1893. THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

In the New Zealand Tablet of January 27 it is stated that Bishop Moran has decided to give up his political agitation for obtaining a grant from Parliament in aid of Catholic Schools in order to concentrate all his energies on rendering Catholic schools the most efficient in the colony. Dealing with the Bishop's Lenten Pastoral Letter the Tablet says:

" Hitherto all the efforts of Catholics to obtain simple justice from the Government and Parliament of New Zealand have failed, and it is notorious that political adventurers, caring nothing as to the morality of the means adopted by them to secure success at elections, have invariably raised the no-Popery cry, even when Catholics had done nothing whatever in electioneering. It is this fact, no doubt, that has impressed the Bishop as to the futility of taking an active part in political struggles, and suggested to him the policy of concentrating all our efforts on the multiplication and efficiency of Catholic schools."

This is a true understanding of the position, excepting that those who promised aid to Catholics were often insincere. Several instances of this came under our notice. We knew a man who used to absolutely curse Catholics for asking for any support for their schools, but when he became a candidate for Parliament his first step was to visit the priest and promise to supporb anything he desired. He was defeated, but he came forward again, this time opposing the Catholic claims, but was defeated the second time. He attributed his defeat to the Catholic vote, and at the hustings he warned the people that Catholics represented a foreign power which would eventually crush them if they were not kept down. rLe came forward at the next election as a valiant champion of Catholic education. On all occasions Catholics voted for him. Indeed, the local priest, notwithstanding that the candidate had previously denounced Catholics as representatives of a dangerous foreign power, voted for him, aud worked in his interest. In an adjoining constituency a Catholic called on the candidate and asked him if he would support the Catholic claims. The candidate replied that he would do all in his P'kWk i;',' '-hat direction, and the elector left,"full aud hope. He had no sooner gone, tjv\n the candiau +fl turned round to mvnb i w ii;;- who wore wiu' 0 U . nicel 1 /," and the same man afterwards turned one of the bitterest opponents of not only Catholics but Irishmen generally. U t-]W next constituency again was another who was most profuse in his sympathies wiih Catholics, but it came to pass that he decided on retiring permanently from politics, and some time afterwards he made it appear quite plain tfaa* ho had never believed in giving anything to Catholic schools. Now thosa are the sort of people who have been practicing deception on Bishop Moran for t'io past 10 year.?, e.ii4 jflskiing him believe he would eventually gti #;'d for his schools. There are, and have been,Gi G,Qtf.r*e, many honest, upright men, who really i.o to do what thoy promised. One of these was My Courtis, of Nelson, who frequently inti'odiij!3«d a measure for granting aid to Catholic schools, but the result was that it led to his political extinction ; another was Mr Vincent Pyke, but where is he now 'I Mr Lee-Smith owed his defeat for Bruce to the same cause, and thus all the true friends of the measure eventually come to grief. Sixteen yeaTs' ex2>erience has made men see now that it is absolutely hopeless for Catholic schools to expect aid, aud if Bishop Moran has come to realise it now it will be well for tho colony at large. We think that he ought to see that it is not a wise policy to put too great a strain on the friendship of the best friends of himself and his fellow countyrmen. He has seen them fall, —politically speaking—one by one, victims to his claims, while his bitterest enemies came off triumphantly because of this one point, There are many of them

:i Parliament who would never have been there only for this question, and many good friends of Bishop Moran and his co-religionists have been kept out of it on the same grounds. In following up an apparently hopeless cause, therefore, Bishop Mor.in has been playing into the hands of his i-nemies, while handicapping his own coelii;ion.ists and friends. There is, for instiiice, the Hon. W. P. Reeves. He has on all occasions done all he could for Catholics, and neither he nor his father before him have shown the slightest semblance of bigotry. But ho does not believe in the Private Schools Bill; he believes in maintaining education free, secular, and compulsory, and when the election comes round it is expected of Catholics that they will forget all his kind services and combine to turn him out. It is too much to expect of them. Irishmen boast that one of their chief virtues is gratitude, and herein they are asked to stifle it and perhaps vote for some buffoon, like a candidate they were called on to support recently in Christchurch. Then there is Sir Robert Stout. When it was almost treason to speak a word in favor of Ireland and Irishmen, long before Mr Parnell was heard of, Sir Robert Stout, in this colony, delivered lectures on Home Rule ; yet he, too, is to be condemned because of his conscientous belief in maintaining the present system intact. Sir Robert Stout is certainly not a bigot, but one of the most generousminded men in this colony.

But there is another view of this question, which ought to appeal to Bishop Moran. Catholics want to live in this colony like other people, and the best chance they have of doing so is by living in peace and harmony with their neighbors. They are greatly handicapped by having to support their own schools, and that is enough for them, without the additional disability of, having at every election to face the odium attached to the block vote. We shall not dwell on the mischief caused by this : there is nothing to be gained by it, but a great deal to lose. It is enough for us to say that it does material harm to Catholics, especially those in bi*siness, and that it is very hard for them to bear that on the top of having to pay what practically amounts to double taxation for education. If there were any hope of success, they would no doubt put up with all this, but there is not, for the general public are more determined than ever to maintain the present system intact But after all Catholics are not so badly off. They are fortunate, inasmuch as that their religion inspires men and women with a spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion which enables them to consecrate their lives to teaching the youug, without any reward, except that which awaits them after death. Catholics can therefore educate their children cheaply and effectively, and they ought to feel thankful to providence for it. Now that Bishop Moran has given np this agitation we trust that he will take up another. Let him take up the temperance quetsion. If he succeeds, as he is bound to if he tries, we promise him he will before long have no difficulty in maintaining his schools in a prosperous condition.