A CONTRAST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 53, 2 May 1874, Page 10

A CONTRAST.

Tnn following nrtiule, with letter attached, wo clip from the 'Dublin livening Tost,' ,md have no doubt both will be re ! with deep interest A reverend correspondent has favored us witli >m interesting sketch. of the Convcnl, of the Sacred Heart, Hoscrea, nvl forcibly contrasts the peace, order, and contentment prcvailnvj; in that institution, unrecognised by the State, with the mis tv, vice, and idleness existing in th-i col-1 El ; ZT,befhan structure, known ns Hoscrea Union Workhouse. We nrogrtev.'d, lor the Hike of our countrywomen, to leirn tint the female |jiiup"rs tiro much more troublesome than the males. We cannot, however, fed surprised that such should be the case Females arc peculiarly amen ible to moral su-uion, but are likewise peculiarly independent of tho restraints of any other kind of discipline. The Petroleums of V iris, wlio fiercely cbfiVd. thr> armed soldiery, became calm an I docile under the influence of the nuns in clinrgo of tho female penitcnti-irios Moreover, it is only aged ami enfeebled men who nu'v li'ive any need to reside in Irish workhouses. Whereas, the eoraptwativo dearth of femalo employment compels mxny womenjj young, vigo/oiid,^ :uid healtliy, to pine, out a wrote'hed e\istenco in a workhouse. The question now arises whether it would not be more ocono-

mical, as veil as more efficacious, for nil the purposes intended by ■workhouses, to establish the denominational system in tho administration of the Poor Law relief. The vast majority of the inmates of Irish workhouses are Catholics. The great bulk oi the ratepayers belong to the same creed, while fully three fourths of the officials are Protestant". Now, we are opposed to sectarian bigotry, but we <lo advitedly declare such a state of things to be unsatisfactory — some would say grossly unfair. If the ratepayers of Ireland were polled to-morrow, we venture to predict that only an infinifessim>d minority would be opposed to the denominational system in ttie application of Poor Law Relief. The State has formally sanctioned this eastern in the Eefoin.atory and Industrial Schools' Acts with the very best results. We would apply it in thiswise. Consolidate the union's by grouping a number of neighbouring worUhouses into oue. In many ca«es, at present, workhouces are principally kept up for the benefit of a few officials. Let those workhouses intended for the use of Cath ilics be transferred to the management of certain religious orders, whose labour would be duly subject to the inspection of the representatives o{ the ratepayers and of the State. A half, if not twothirds, of the present Poor Law taxation could thus be remitted, as the religions oiders would seek no profit, but barely a subsistence for themselves and those entrusted to them. With regard to the Protestant and Dissenting workhouses, we would leave the appointment cl the officials to the ecclesiastical authorities cf the respective religious communions, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board. By the grouping system, no injustice would be done to any creed; for, no mutter how few or how scattered the paup r members of any persuasion might be, they would, by being collected into one workhouse, become entitled to all the pecuniary and oilier advantages enjoyed by the creed of the mass of the population. An allowance per head, for inmates and officials, would, iv our opinion, be the faiiest ■way in which to appoition the poor rates. By the establishment of Union Rating, the who'e country would be placed on a level, and by the local grouping of workhouses, injustice to prosperous districts, for the benefit of the chronically poorer, would be prevented. Such n eyßtem, of which we have only giveu a hasty outline, would have, in addition to many oilier recommendations, the gieat advantage, that by it we should be spared tho>e wretched squabbles, in which politics anil polemics aie so unavoidably intruded, at the election of ovpry dispensary doctor, and other workhouse official throughout Ireland, und of which the the dissatisfaction that attended the recent appointment of a schoolmistress for itosorea Union, m iy be taken as a sample.