INVERCARGILL CATEOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 37, 2 January 1885, Page 17

INVERCARGILL CATEOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

The usual weekly meeting of the above Society was held on Thursday evening, November 27th. The attendance was unusually large, owing, perhaps, to the importance of ,the debate, " Should Catholic schools be subsidised ? " or " Denominationalism verms Secularism." At the previous meetine, this being the chosen subject for discussion, the difficulty arose as to who was to defend the present secular system, the views of all agreeing on the subject. Finally the President (Mr. P. Reid) consented to defend it, and consequently, at this meeting he had to vacate the chair, in order fo open the debate in defence of the present system of education, which he did ably and bravely. Mr. James Farrell was unanimously voted to the chair, a position which he seemed born, for. Mr. Reid, in opening the debate, said he was sorry to say he had been unable, owing to the short time that had intervened since notice was given of this question, to devote as much time to the study of it as its importance deserved, for it was not only of the greatest importance to us, but also to the whole of the people of this young and nsrag Colony ; but as right was on the side which he had the honor to be selected to speak on, it was with the confidence in the justness of the cause that he willingly responded to the request to open this discussion in favour of the present system of free, secular and compulsory education. We must admit that it is the duty of the State to see that every child is educated, and the only possible way this could be accomplished was by having one particular method of giving instruction to the children attending schools. No fairer method could have been devised than the one that was in working order. Under it all classes and creeds were treated alike, and every child between the ages of seven and fourteen years was taught reading, writing and arithmetic. After that age, if the parents so desired it, they could send their children to the higher schools, and, for a very small outlay, have them prepared for any profession they might have a desire to enter upon. But, once the children acquired reading, writing, and arithmetic, the duty of the State ended. As the State bad decreed that every child should be educated, it also had decreed that every child be educated free of cost to the parents. What greater blessing could the State'bestbw on the people of this Colony than that J Some pedple talk about the nationalisation of the land of this Colony as a remedy to relieve the working population of the heavy burdens necessarily imposed upon them for the maintenance of the government of the country. But I will tell you plainly, said the speaker, that it would not relieve the working population to such an extent as does the relief afforded them by the present system of education. Only for it thousands of children would be brought up as ignorant as the savages of the Fiji Islands. But supposing, for argument's sake, that the State complied with that so-called nonsensical request of Catholics, is it not reasonable to suppose that the cost of the State would be considerably increased, perhaps doubled 1 If they didn't think so, he hoped they would be able to show how the present amount of public money could be so economically and effectually used by having subsidised denominational schools in addition to the present public schools. He said he would like to see a scheme to that effect, as it would help to clear the way for their unreasonable demands ; but no such scheme has been produced as yet, and the inability to produce such a one is one of the weightiest arguments against the opponents of the present 'system of education. Again, was it not also reasonable to suppose that, as they were only one to seven of the population, that they were the class that would Buffer most in this Colony, where the teaching staff was Protestant. For instance, would not a Presbyterian teacher endeavour to instruct the children under his charge from a Presbyterian point of view. The other Protestant teachers would do the same. So for the advantage of getting a few dozen children taught in the denominational schools in the towns, there would be hundreds of their children in the country schools whose religious beliefs vould be tampered with, and there would be a never-ending quarrelling among all classes of society ; so that these people, instead of considering that the State is doing them an injury, should see that it is doing them a good turn by throwing around them its mantle of protection in the present system of education ; and yet they profess not to see it But in conclusion, asked the speaker, are we going to allow such a stata of affairs to be introduced here? Are these Old-World feuds to be tolerated amongst us, where all classes of her Majesty's subjects are on an equal footing, enjoying the advantage of the best system of education that it has ever been the privilege of a free people to

*!_ Mr V M ," ° Bnen said that > in his opinion, it was not the desire of the Catholics to interfere with that excellent, free, secular and compulsory system of education established in this Colony. All they desired was that they should be relieved from what they considered to be a grievous burden cast upon them by the rest of the Colony They did not understand by what reason the State should establish a system of education said to be applicable to all, under which they were compelled, besides contributing their share to the taxation necesIsary to maintain that system, to spend io addition, £142,000 in erecting school buildings, and £30,000 a year for teaching one-seventh of the children of the Colony. That was the burden which they did not consider the State should compel them to bear. It was a most iniquitous thing for the State to rob the Catholics of New Zealand of several thousand pounds annually, and to give them nothing in return. There are about 8,000 children taught in the Catholic schools, and, calculating the expense of these children to be nearly £4 per head, there was a sum of about £30,000 saved annually to the State. Whereas, if Catholic parents were to send their children to the State schools, that £30,000 would have to be spent, in addition to the accommodation which would have to be provided in the shape of school buildings, together with an ex*ra teaching staff ; and all they wanted was to have the same privileges as tbeir fellow Catholics had in England, Ireland and Scotland, viz., that their books ani their schools should be open to inspection by the ordinary officers of the State. The Catholics were but few in number and comparatively

poor, and yet— more honour to them be it said— they were straining their strength in giving their children a ?ood moral and religious education, which would be the means of quickening their perceptions of conscience, of training their moral faculties, and also qualifying them better to perform their duties as citizens, so that their young people would be upright, honourable, law-abiding, and God-f earing people. And to such people the State would offer not the slightest assistance. The old proverb said, " God helps those wbo help themselves." What did the Parliament and Government of New Zealand say. They ridiculously said, "We will not help those who do help themselves, but we will help those who do not help themselves. You who help yourselves shall have nothing, but you who do not help yourselves shall have all." Did any Catholic parents suffer their children to go without a good moral education 7 No 1 they put their hands into, their pockets, because, from their own conscientious motives, they considered it their duty to do so, and perhaps pinch themselves of the necessaries of life, and contributed to the utmost of their ability cheerfully and ungrudingly, yet not without much self -sacrifice ; they built schools which were a credit to them in every respect, and furnished those schools with good teachers, and were actually able, in many instances, to beat the results obtained in the State schools. So far supeiior was the education given in Catholic schools to that given in many of the State schools, that Protestant parents, in many instances, actually sent their children to Catholic schools in preference to sending them to State schools. Catholics weie large contributors to the taxation of the country, and were prevented by what was a sufficient reason, an impassable barrier, from receiving their share of the benefit of the taxation of the country. He dwelt for a considerable length of time on the system of education prevailing in Canada, which was one, he said, that provided for the wants of religious minorities. There we found protection extended to all denominational schools and identical privileges conferred upon minorities, by the Protestant or Catholic minorities. And no special favours bestowed on oae denomination to the exclusion of the other. The Roman Catholic minority of Upper Canada and the Protestant minority of the maritime provinces stood on a footing of entire equality. Had this system been productive of good or evil ? The one exceptional feature was the Boman Catholic schools. Any Roman Catholic couid require his school tax to be paid for the maintenance of the separate schools of his own Church. When the school regulations are not agreeable to any portion whatever of the inhabitants professing a religious faith different from that of a majority, the dissentients might choose trustees, establish schools, and receive their proportion of the school fund. Ample provision was made for carrying out this portion of the law harmoniously and efficiently. The speaker concluded by hoping that the ; daywas not far distant when that concession in the shape of a capitation allowance would be granted in the spirit of jnstice and toleration, for the education of the Catholic youths of JUew Zealand.

Mr. P. F. Daniel, speaking in defence of the secular system of education said that if it was the duty of the. State to educate the people it was clearly their duty to have that system a secular one, that people of all denominations, sects, and opinions, might be able to take advantage of it. He said that we were a new country without the hatreds, passions, faults, and prejudices of the Old World, and that it would be well in building up one Australasian nation, to leavs these factors out, and let all men meet on a broad and liberal platform. Referring to a previous speaker, he denied that any injustice had been done to the Catholic body ; he pointed out the necessity of governing by majority, and asked the name of any Catholic country that had granted a subsidy to Protestants or Pagan institutions. With regard to the Catholic paying a portion of the education tax, and not making use of the Government schools, and then calling the tax an injustice, he said that the same argument might be used against all public institutions. He instanced the case of a xoad that the majority of the settlers required, and that a general lax baibeen levied to provide the funds for. One-seventh of the settlers objected to this road, they did not want it, and objected to pay their share towards its construction. He asked if for the good of the community in general it would be just to refund these men their money. Mr. Marlow was very strongly of the opinion that Catholics are justified in demanding a subsidy, because they pay an equal share of the taxes of the country, and do not partake of the national system of education. The Government have made the Education Bill in su :h a way as to prevent Catholics from participating in its benefits. He said if it cost the Government £5 to educate each child under their system, they should give the Catholics a like amount for every child they educated up to the same standard. They had heard it said that if it were not for the clergy we would not hear anything about this vexed question. More honour to our clergy for reminding us of our duty. It was no -light call of conscience that would make a man pay five or six shillings a week to get three or four children educated when he could get them educated for nothing, and yet how many hardworking men paid as much as that out of their week's wages which would not exceed £2, perhaps. It was easy to talk, but when it came to touching the pocket, then the test came. Catholics had been put to the test, and bravely had they stood it. Their schools to-day were a credit to them in every respect. He briefly referred to the Christian Brothers' schools of Dunedin. If there was one thing Catholics ought to be proud of, it was their schools. In conclusion he hoped the day was not far distant when Catholic schools would be subsidised.

Mr. Cusack also spoke in his usual short, shaip, and decisive style in defence of Catholic claims. As Mr. Cusack is new to Inveicargill, and in fact to New Zealand, be was unable to speak at any great length on the injustice done to the Catholics of the Colony,but he briefly referred to the systems of education prevailing in other countries, where Catholics are not debarred from any privilege that their Protestant friends enjoy, and he did undoubtedly give some valuable information to the audience, and was enthusiastically applauded. After the respondent had criticised in a very able manner the statements produced by his{ opponents, thej chairman congratulated the gentlemen who had 6poken for and against, and, stated that the

subject occupied fully two hours in discussion. He then demanded a vote on the voices, which was given unanimously that "Catholic schools should be subsidised." i n he ? r - ty loteI ote o£ thanks was accorded to the chair, and the meeting closed in the usual form. •