PARENTS AND THE ELECTION.

Wairarapa Age, 24 October 1925, Page 5

PARENTS AND THE ELECTION.

THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOL. (To the Editor.) Sir, — In the high schools and colleges in New Zealand (which are -attended mainly by the children of the prosperous classes) the Bible is read daily, without causing strife but the present Liberal and Labour candidates for Parliament are dead against the children of the public schools being allowed to read the Bible in the schools. In fact so bitter are the members of the Labour and Liberal (now "National”) parties against the Bible lessons that they sat up all night in tho House once last session and defeated a Bill (by 6 votes only), which would have allowed parts of the Bible to be read in schools without comment.

It seems a disgrace to us as a British colony to allow the 1 English Bible, one of the heritages of the British race, the fount of pure English, and which fixes the standard of our conduct, to be banned from the schools. The chief leaders in Parliament against the Bible in the workers’ school* ale men from abroad and not New Zealanders; and the Labour Party have the audacity to say that they would not allow a vote on the question, yet other countries have taken votes with success. It is a hard ship on the workers as they cannot afford to send their children to private schools where Bible reading prevails. The workers want the Bible, as votes taken in the workers’ suburbs show that 75 per cent favour the Bible in the schools. This shows how out of date and unpopular is the "secular” platform of the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party which prevents the use of the Bible in our schools. Trusting all parents will vote only for candidates who favour the children being allowed to receive some knowledge of the Bible during their school life.—l am, etc., A NEW ZEALANDEB.