New Zealand Tablet Fiat Justita. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 1877. A CATHOLIC CHILD FLOGGED.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 228, 14 September 1877, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet Fiat Justita. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 1877. A CATHOLIC CHILD FLOGGED.

-H And for what has this Catholic child been flogged ? For not reading the Protestant Bible in a Government school in Canterbury. This is the statement of our Rangiora cor* respondent, whose letter will be found in another column. This correspondent also informs us that the Head Master of the Government school at Kaiapoi — which place the Hon. Mr. Bowen represents — "in explaining history about the time of Henry VII I., made a wholesale charge as to the uselessness of priests, confession, indulgences, <fee. A Catholic parent sent a complaint against the teacher to the School Board. This is the Chairman's reply : — ' After considering carefully the matter, the Committee arrived at the conclusion that Mr. Rayner's (the teacher's) answer was satisfactory, but in future the same will not occur again.' " Here are two specimens of what is occurring in Government schools in New Zealand, without the remotest chance of redress, and what will most certainly happen frequently under the new Bill should it become law. Catholics, in this event, must prepare themselves for the endurance of the grossest injuries and insults at the hands of Government schoolmasters and School Boards. Their children will be flogged for refusing to read the Protestant Bible; and their remonstrances against the ignorance and vulgar bigotry of Government schoolmasters will be treated with the cool insolence with which the complaint of the Kaiapoi Catholic parent has been treated. Under the new Bill made law there will be no redress for Catholic grievances, whilst every effort will be made to close all Catholic schools. This is most certainly the end and chief object of this new Bill. Ministers will of course deny this, as they have already done; but we are as capable of judging of the meaning of words and of the import of a measure as they are, and we have no hesitation whatever in saying that the intent of the Bill is to destroy all Catholic schools, and compel Catholic children to receive instruction, religious and otherwise, from Protestant teachers, who will be left practically at full liberty to insult and outrage their and their fathers' faith. Let mo one be deceived ; the political promises of Ministers are not to be believed. Of this the public has had already more than enough of proofs, but as we are writing apropos of this letter of our Rangiora correspondent, we call especial attention to what he says in reference to the Hon. Mr. Bowen's promise as to education previous to the last general election :—": — " The conduct of the Hon. C. C. Bowen" is more keenly felt by the Catholics of Rangiora than by any other section of their co-religionists in New Zealand, because it is well known that it was the collective vote of the Catholics which gave Mr. Bowen his victory over his opponent, Mr. Beswick of Kaiapoi. The Catholics voted for Mr. Bowen because he promised before two of the most respectable settlers of the constituency (one a Catholic, the other a Protestant) that if returned, "he would help to do away with the grievances inflicted on Catholics in the educational administration." So much for Mr. Bowen's word. And all now know how he has kept his promise. Instead of helping to do away with the grievances of Catholics, he has introduced a Bill to aggravate them, to destroy their schools ; and he

has refused to permit the provinces, such as Nelson, Westland, Hawke's Bay, which had hitherto helped Catholic schools, to do so any longer. But the Catholics of Kaiapoi and Rangiora have now found out the Hon. Mr. Bowen, and they are not likely to be duped by him a second time. They WILL REMEMBER THE HON. C. C. BOWEN, HIS BKOKEN WORD, THE FLOGGED CATHOLIC CHILD, AND THE KAIAPOI SCHOOLMASTER AND THE SCHOOL BOARD.