MORE SUBJECTS THAN ONE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 11, 12 July 1873, Page 6

MORE SUBJECTS THAN ONE.

AHEUtago 'Witness' of the sth July, under the heading Passing Notes/h as the following, which also appears in the 'Daily Times ' of the same date :-'<Long live Mr Ryan! Judgmg from his patronymic, he belongs to a race that never did love work too well. All the more honor to him for making so good a use of his opportunities of observation." Ihis is very flippant and very nonsensical, and would be undeserving of notice were it not for the calumny it suggests, and the insult to a most hard working people it contains! lnis is the way m which these two Dunedin journals permit themselves first to slander the Irish race and then to make merry over their own slanders !

Here it may not be inappropriate to mention a fact in reference to the immigrants by the Nicol Fleming. Of the 50 single females who came by tkat ship, two are Catholics - one from the North of Ireland, sent for by her friends, the other a native of Glasgow. This is " keeping up the balance of religions and nationalities " with a vengeance, and most effectively carrying out the policy of a high official, viz., to manage the immigration scheme so as to prevent Irish Catholics from coming to the Colony, for fear popery should be established here.

Catholics in Otago have lost all hope of obtaining justice in reference to education They have not even presented a netition this Session to the Council on the subject. Bearing in mind the manner in which they were treated the last time, they would not dare to ask a single member of the Provincial Council to present a petition on the subject. No doubt there are some fair men in this Council ; but Catholics are convinced that though some miff ht present their petition if asked, they would do so reluctantly through fear of their constituents, the overwhelming majority of whom are determined to use their power to compel the minority to centribute towards the education of their own children, whilst at the same time refusing the minority the least aid towards the education of their children.

The Catholics of Otago have already made great sacrifices in the cause of Christian education. They have schools, in SDunedin attended by 250 children, in Milton by 42, in In-

vercargill by 105, in Lawrence by between 80 and 100 in Arrow, St. Bathans, and Naseby, we do not know the precise number, and it is in contemplation to open two other schools in a short time. All this they have done at their own sole expense : the Government will not look at them, will not give them the least aid, whilst at the same time spending money with a lavish hand in Protestant schools. In Otago all are taxed for the sole benefit of the majority, and for the purpose of providing high class education for the children of the wealthiest of the community. The powerless minority however, has to erect and maintain schools for themselves' and after doing this is compelled to contribute to erect aud' maintain schools for the majority and the rich ! without receiving aid from the taxes they pay, or the least benefit froifijfc their expenditure.

The High School Commission has presented its report to the Council. Amongst the recommendations it makes, is one that will startle many. It is as follows : " A new building for the Boys' High School should be forthwith erected onjL suitable site, having ample playground ; and the present Hfffi^" School buildings and grounds should be appropriated solely to the purposes of the Girls' High School." These are not the precise words, but they give the meaning. If this suggestion be adopted, we shall have to pay a pro rata share of the expense of a school in which there are no Catholic children, to which Catholic children cannot go, and in which the vilest calumnies against Catholics and the Church have been taught — a school which for absurd bigotry has, we do believe hardly an equal anywhere. • ' Another recommendation is that the Provincial Government shall provide scholarships for the girls of the High School. This is in keeping with the last, and the reason assigned is that high education is the most efficacious means of making girls industrious and good wives and mothers, Well, this, if" true, would call on the Government to provide high education for all the girls in the Province, as well as for those who attend th« High School ; otherwise it will be necessary for the miners and small farmers to help to give a high education to the daughters of our Colonial Secretaries, Ministers of Justice, Commissioners of Customs, and prince merchants. This high education should, in justice, be for all or none! There is a special reason why Government should be somewhat generous in reference to high education for boys. The community stands in need of legislators, professional men, and officials of various kinds, and it is only fair the community should help in providing these ; but surely ladies are not about to be introduced into our Provincial Councils, Corportions, Boards, Custom Houses, <fee

But will this high education, which it;is hoped will be obtained in the High School, supply the Province with these highly educated ladies who, precisely because of the high education, will, ipm facto, become the best dairy maids, cooks, &c. The idea is painfully ludicrous. No doubt one who is really a lady will, when necessary, be able to recognise the necessity and submit to it with a noble humility and dignity impossible, or at all events very nearly so, to be met with in ordinary persons. But if people imagine that these qualities are to be acquired through such an education as is to be found in High Schools like that of Dunedin, they will soon find themselves miserably disappointed. It is not in •such schools that those who are really ladies are usually trained. Amongst girls who compete with boys and are educated by men, there may be found a few blue-stockings, a few smatterers who will soon experience to their cost how dangerous a thing a little learning is ; and a good many romps, but many who are really ladies — never.

Nothing can be clearer to our minds than that the Waste Lands Board has acted wrongly in selling the Marewhenua block of 10,000 acres to the Hon. Mr Campbell. No one charges this Board with acting corruptly, but it does appear there has been at least a very serious misunderstanding, which ordinarily sensible men could and ought to have easily escaped. There is no doubt that public opinion was opposed to the sale, and it is evident, from the unanimous resolution of the Provincial Council, that the representatives of the people disapproved and opposed it. Mr Tolmie, the head of the Executive in the Council, has manifested a brave contempt for the opinion of the Council, and proved himself utterly unfit for the position he holds. He acknowledges that no official information of the resolution was made to the Waste Lands Board ; but this will not excuse either the sale or Mr Tolmie's couduct. He knew of the resolution officially, and yet, directly the information was thus given him, he went

fcb the Waste Xands Board, and did the very thins the Council unanimously called upon him not to do. Mr Tolmie may be a good member of the Waste Lands Board, but he is most certainly unfit to be the head of the Provincial Executive. He richly deserves, in the words of Mr Stouts resolution, the gravest censure. Mr Tolmie'B defenpe rests on a myth. He says there was a contract between the Government and Mr Campbell which made it imperative on the Waste Lands Board to sell this land to Mr Campbell, and that this contract was entered into between Mr Reid and Mr Campbell some time last year. But Mr Tolmie is unable to put his hand on the document showing this, or to give the date of the bargain. On the hand, M* Reid affirms no such contract existed, and an explanation which is borne out by the documents referred to as calculated to sustain the contract. Mr Reid's words, as reported in the ' Times, 1 are — " A bargain that Mr Campbell, under any circumstances, should become the purchaser of this block of land was not entered into between Myself and Mr Campbell. ... It was clearly understood that no other person would be allowed to take up the leasehold and purchase the land, but it did not follow from that, that under any circumstances, Mr Campbell should be allowed to purchase. On the contrary, the resolution passed by the Waste Lands Board showed that he (Mr Reid) and the other members carefully guarded themselves against such an understanding between the Board and Mr Campbell, who clearly understood that iv the event of this land being found to be auriferous, the Government would be empowered to refuse to selL" Mr Reid's account is a precise and most accurate statement tif the case. He is borne out to the letter by the documents laid before the Council. The Waste Lands Bourd was not obliged to sell, and need not have permitted itself to be scared out of its wits by Mr Tolmie's awful picture of litigation in all the law courts of the Colony, and before the Privy Council in Westminster. But whatever may be said as to the Board, no defence is possible for Mr Tolmie. The interests of the people have been sacrificed by their own servants, whether through stupidity or a desire to enrich the runholder matters little. In either case the censure is most richly deserved.