FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 43, 18 February 1887, Page 15

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.

fLL the Australian Colonies, with perhaps one exception, if indeed there is even one exception, are suffering fom financial difficulties; and these difficulties date their origin from the day on which a system of free and godless education was introduced amongst them. Even mediocre politicians were able to foresee that such would be the result. Natural and economic laws cannot be opposed with impunity ; and to provide free education for the children of well-to-do people is a contravention of economic principles, whilst the policy of the State in bringing up children in godlessness is contrary to the natural law, whose first precept imposes on all the obligation of recognising and serving the Creator and Lord of all. The present state of impecuniosity prevailing throughout the Australasian Colonies is not surprising. On the contrary, were it otherwise, we should be surprised indeed. Few of the colonies are suffering more acutely than New Zealand ; and here, on account of tho rapid increase of the school population, the pinch will be more severely felt than elsewhere. The average attendance at public schools in New Zealand last year was 110,644; in 1881 it was 87,811 ; five years previously, in 1876, it was 62,866— fr0m which it appears that for some time to come an increase of from 25,000 to 30,000 school children may be looked for every five years. This means an increase in our expenditure of at least £24,000 a year- so that in I*9l the expenditure of this Colony on c lucation will considerably cxc ed £600,000 a year. With a falling revenue and a continuance of dull times, which must beWicipated if we are to be guided in our judgment by the last eight years, thoughtful men must ask themselves : Where is the required money to come from ? And, in addition to this, last year there were 14,948 children receiving education in private schools, and 7,567 receiving tuition at home. That is 22,515 children, or more than one-fifth of the children of the country of school age have no share whatever in the Government expenditure on education. The country is burthened heavily for education, and \ ft one-fifth of the children are beyond thereach of the system for which this heavy burden is imposed. This manifests neither economy nor statesmanship. Nor is this all. People wore told when the public were first asked to take upon themselves tht burden of public education, that the new system was principally

intended for the gutter children, who, unless such a system should be established, would be utterly neglected. Has the result corresponded to the hopes expressed, and the promises held forth ? Have the gutter children profited — or indeed been permitted to profit — by this free education ? Echo answers. Are they not rather the children of well-to-do parents, who could easily pay for the education of their children, who have almost exclusively enjoyed all th* advantages, such as they are, of this much-vaunted system. When, then, we take into account the very large number of school children, 22,515, on whom the Government expends nothing, and the fact that thf* most neglected portion of the community remains still the most neglected, does it not appear pretty plain that our system of public education is a huge monoply designed not for the community or such, but for a portion of it, and for the maintenance of a class daily becoming more firmly rooted in invested interests. To maintain this free and goddless system of education for the benefit of people who are well able to pay, as they ought, for the education of their own children, the entire community is taxed, even those, who, in obedience to principle and the dictates of right reason, discharge, at great sacrifices, their duties towards their children ; the public finances are thrown into confusion ; increased taxation made inevitable, and all public works threatened with utter extinction. The folly of maintaining such a system is so manifest, that it can only be accounted for in a way which we need not name.

Ocb readers no doubt, as usual, will expect us to furnish them with the populations of the chief cities of the Colony as given by the census. Auckland and its suburbs come first with a total of 46,263 ; Dunedin, with its suburb 3 tak^s the secoad placa, the total being 46,175, and showing a deficiency of 88 as compared with Auckland. As, however, the exodus from Auckland during the year has bean very considerable while nothing of the kind has taken place with respect to Dunedin we may concl de that as a matter of fact our own city continues to rank first in the matter of population. The returns for Wellington are 25,945 ; for Christchurch and suburbs 33,651 ; and for Invercargill and suburbs 8,939.

" Ouida " contributes one of her unpleasant stories to the Revue dts Deux Mondes. It deals with Catholic matters in the nightmare strain common to infidel or Protestant authors who meddle with them. Its chief point, however, and that on which the whole narrative hangs is the unflinching fidelity of a Catholic priest to the secrecy of the confessional. In spite of some errors as to the liberty allowed to a priest in speaking to his penitent outside the confessional, the testimony thus borne is very remarkable and goes to show the impression made on the non-Catholic mind by the unfailing fortitude referred to.

The tithe war in Wales (says Modern Society) has brought to light the story of a plain-speaking farmer's wife, who. while in conversation with an exacting parson recently, made a practicaj proposition. Her family was large, and she was like Lazarus' sister Martha, troubled about many things, so she u>*ged the clergyman ''to be fair and take the tenth child, as he used to take the tenth pig, and then things would not be so bad "

O\E of the most remarkable incidents of the Ulster Assizeg (says the Dublin Freeman) wa<? the appeal for mercy made by John Walker on behalf of William Kitchen. Walker had been a Catholic labourer in the employment of Messrs. Harland and Wolff.and Kitchen was one of a crowd of cowardly ruffians, in the same employment, who kicked and beat Walker and forced him to leave the premises, for no other offence than that of being a Catholic. Belfast was in a state of terrible excitement at the time, no doubt, and fanaticism held away, but the assault was marked by the cruellest and most heartless Bavagery. Asked when in the witness box, if he had since returned to work on the island, Walker answered, " No nor never will ;"' but Walker, nevertheless, appealed to Judge Lawson to take a lenient view of Kitchen's case, because he had a respectable, quiet father- " Your observations do you credit," said his lordship, •• but we have a duty to discharge." After this Kitchen pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. The sentence was a sharp one, and should operate as a warning : but the eminently Christian SDirit of Walker should have a still more salutary effect, and would too, if there were in the breasts of the untutored wretches who at intervals turn Belfast into a pandemonium a single drop of the milk of human kindness.

Ths tithe bailiffs (says the Dublin Freeman of Dec 24.) are having a hot time of it in Wales. A body of them went down from London a few days ago to Whitford, and they have got much more than they had bargained for. As one correspondent puts it, " their experiences throughout have bsen of a very unique character.' 1 First the shopkeepers refused to supply them with food, and then the farmers whose property they seized agreed upon a kind of plan of

campaign by which the obnoxious visitors were permitted to enjoy neither food nor shelter. A severe snowstorm was turned to useful

purposes, and the fleeing bailiffs were remorselessly snowballed. Two of their number who had taken shelter in a shed were screwed up in their quarters, and their condition inside appears to have rendered a three miles' tramp through slush and snow infinitely preferable. Two others passed their first night on a bare barn floor exposed to the bitterness of a terrible storm, and one of them said he would not pass such another night for £s—no5 — no mean or unmistakable avowal from a bailiff. Other principles of torture were duly put into operation against the agents of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and we have real pleasure in recording thefict that tithe collecting in Wales has become even more trying to the system thaa rackrenting in another country not far remote.

A Scotch correspondent who writes to the London Daily Ifen from Banda Oriental speaks, among the rest, as follows :— " Singula r enough the Irish, of whom there are upwards of 30,000 in the country are the most successful settlers.. To them is due the great develop." ment of sheep-farming, which is making the countiy rival Australia and New Zealand in the production of wool. The Irish ' Estancieros ' are estimated to possess about 50,000,000 sheep, besides great herds «f cattle ; and they are the chief landed proprietors in the province • Buenos Ayres, where the most flourishing English educationa establishments are maintained by them, and they are noted for their hospitality to strangers. In short, they are admirable in all the relations of life ; and Irish housemaids, who abound in the city, are remarkable for their uniform morality, honesty, and good temper. But this by the way, and in vindication of the Irish race, which partisa i politicians during the late electoral campaign at home slandered in the most shameless manner."

A report is now current to the effect that M. Paul Bert, who was the chief instrument in preventing a priest from gaining acces to the death-bed of the unhappy Gambetta, was himself glad t obtain the ministrations of the Catholic Church, when he lay dyin the other day in Tonquin. Such reports however, should only be received with reservations, as they not unfrequently arise only from the charitable desires of people whose wisdom does not equal their worth in other respects. The report, for instance, recently spread abroad concerning the conversion of Manlio Garibaldi proves to have had such an unfortunate origin, and has been made use of by the enemies of religion to do as much harm as possible.— lt is. nevertheless, rather a striking truth that the death of M. Paul Bertt the arch-enemy of Catholic education — occurred on the very day on which the final Act for the exclusion of religious teaching from French schools was passed.

Another strong supporter of Garibaldi's has recommended that the Government of King Humbert, for its own sake, should geek a reconciliation with the Pope. The gentleman referred to is the Signor Achille Fazzari. who writes from Calabria to a deputy of the Italian Chamber, recommending a complete and loyal agreement with the Vatican. He recommends, moreover, that all needful concessions may be made. Because, says he, whatever is conceded will not be sufficient compared with the moral and material advantages to be gained by i .

Preparations for the celebration of the Pope' 3 approaching jubilee continue to be made in all parts of the Catholic world. Spain especially takes a leading position in the matter, and a very large sum of money has already been collected there, while abundant gifts are being made ready for the exhibition to be held on the great occasion at the Vatican. In every country, however, even remote Patagonia, and central Africa, Catholics are bestirring themselves to prove their allegiance to the Hoi/ Father, and give him a practical proof of their veneration and love.

The vitality and growth of the Catholic faith in Switzerland has of late received an eloquent illustration in the erection of several fine churche9 in the Protestant cantons. The Catholic faith, indeed, may be said to be the only form of Christianity that truly survives in the country alluded to, for Old Catholicism, notwithstanding the hopes based upon it, was blighted there in its birth, and Protestantism aa areli gion is dying out.

Thk Athenaeum of November 27, in reviewing the ninth volume of Gaiidner's " Letteis and Papers of the reign of Henry VIII.," says a striking word or two as to the character of the men who defamed the monasteries. " Seldom in the world's history (it says), has a tyrant found baser instruments for his basest designs than Henry fv>und for carrying out the visitation of the English monasteries. That any monastery in England contained half a dozen such wretches as the more prominent of the visitors who came to despoil them is almost inconceivable. It is a sickening story. The reader of this volume ag he turns over page after page is in danger of disbelieving everything that these men report, in his 'ndignation at the audacious and manifest lying which characterizes their reports. The men were not one whit better than common informers, and they never thought it worth while to deal with any but common informers. Runaway monks of blasted character. rogues who were on the lookout for a share of the spoil, fellows who were

professional blacklegs, defaulters who had embezzled ! the con" vent's money and cooked their accounts, cowled ruffians who were actually confined in the prisons of the monasteries for their crimes — these and the like were the men to whom the visitors looked. and whose inventions they reported, or even exaggerated. Considering the tremendous pressure used, and the incomparably unscrupulou 8 character of the emissaries engaged, Mr. Gairdner is more than justi" fied in his remark that ' the wonder, indeed, is that the recorded case ß are co few, and that in ppite of all the inducement offered under the new regime to appeal to the king's vicegerent or the visitors, there are not more frequent instances ... a fact which, duly considered, seems to imply that the rule in most houses was far more wholesome and more willirgly submitted to than many have been hitherto disposed to believe.' " But these were the wretches who began the good work that has since been coLtinued by such worthy members of society, for example, as Miss Biddy O'Gorman, and Messrs. Chiniquy> and Theodore Oswald Keatinge, and ether abandoned and vile, or criminal people. And the call for the wares so furnished is almost of the same character to-day that it was in the time of King Henry VIII. Then it existed principally in the lust and greed of the King and his minions, and now we find it in the itching for filth that distinguishes a base minded mob. The Orangemen especially were well foreshadowed in their great predecessors, Cromwell, and London, their comrades, and their myrmidons.

By the death of Mr. James McMaster, editor of the New York Freeman's JaurnalyVfhich occurred recently in thecity in question. Catholic journalism has lost one of its most able and estimable members. Mr. McMaster was a convert from Presbyterianismto the Catholic Churchi and almost from the first devoted his talents and learning, which were both very considerable, to her service in the Press. It will be hard to fill the place which he has left vacant. — R.I.P.

The plaintiff in the case in which Mr. J. Liston, of the Douglas Hotel, Dunedin, was lately defendant, has been committed for trial on a charge of perjury committed during the hearing of the case on the 7th inst.

One of the two scholarships given by Bishop Redwood (says the Hokitika Guardian), has been taken by Master James Ward, of St. Mary's School, Hokitika, which is conducted by Mr. P. Duggan. The competition was open to all schools in the Wellington diocese, which includes Hawe's Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury, Westland and Marlborough. Master Ward is a son of Mr. J. Ward, of Hokitika] to whom as well as to Mr. Duggan, the success of Master Ward is highly satisfactory.

A CURIOUS freak on the part of a miser, lately came out in one of the American law courts. The individual in question happened to die, apparently leaving a good deal less property than he was reputed to possess. Litigation, however, arose concerning what he did seem to leave, and in the course of the trial one of the witnesses mentioned that there was in his possession a bundle tied up in a handkerchief, which the deceased had given into his keeping some years ago, and which he had never opened, believing it to contain manuscript only, as the miser liad also dabbled a little in literature. The bundle accordingly was brought into court, and being untied there was found to contain notes and securities amounting to the value of £70,000Under the circumstances, the feelings of the witness would, of course depend upo-i the ruture of his honesty.

The Union Steamship Company have issued a very neat guide to the Colony, which should prove welcome to tourists desirous of visiting the various interesting localities. It is named " New Zealand, the Wonderland of the World," and the illustrations it contains well bear out the claim contained in the title. Graphic descriptions of the places mentioned are also furnished.

On the 26th of November the Catholics of Copenhagen celebrated the 200 th anniversary of the death of their celebrated countryman, Neil Stensen, the founder of the science of geology. Stensen, who was an eminent man of science, and had been the intimate fiiend of the famous pantheist Spinoza, became a convert from Lutheranism to the Catholic Church, aDd after a life of great devotion, and especially of charity towards the poor, died while exercising the office of a bishop at Schwerin in 1686.

In the greater woild of politics the week has not been distinguished by any startling or unexpected events. Mr. Parnell's amendment on the Address-in-reply demanding concessions rather than coercion for Ireland has oeen defeated by a majority of 109. The rumour of an impending war between France and Germany still continues, and Russia is still said to be meditating some h *hle under" taking, but as to whether England is to share in h utility, or even to monopolise it, nothing as yet gives any c.c.n indication The assembling of a Russian fleet in Japanese waters may, however, give us some suspicions as to what is really intended. A petition meantime, is being signed by the Russian people praying the Czar to assume the sovereignty of such Christian provinces as remain under the control of the Sultan, while at the same time, another conspiracy against His Majesty's life has been discovered. In

Afghanistan a general revolt against tbe Ameer is said to be threatened, and in Burmah matters once more give signs of protracted disturbance. Portugal, again, displays aa astonishing spirit of " cheek " in demanding of the Sultan of Zanzibar the surrender of territory declared to be his by England and Germany combined. In Italy Ministerial troubles, probably caused by the defeat of the troops in Abyssinia, are causing excitement. In New South Wales Sir Henry Parkes, the newly appointed Premier, has been mobbed and, perhaps not without excuse, threatened with rough treatment* In the New Hebrides the French are said to bo ill-treatiDg the natives* they themselves at the same time suffering from fever. And on the whole a rather uneasy condition of things seems to be generally prevalent with a complete uncertainty as to the final issue.

The drawing of the art-union in aid of the Port Chalmers Presbytery fund has been unavoidably postponed until March 17th. The prize list in this undertaking contains a large number of valuable articles, and of itself should serve as a very effective attraction. But there is besides the object to be served, and which recommends itself strongly to the consideration of all Catholics. The necessity of providing for tbe discharge of the debt on the buildiDg is pressing, and it is earnestly hoped that all who can do so will make an effort to ensure the success of the undertaking adopted for tbe purpose.

The entertainments given this week in Dunedin in aid of the fund for converting the old church buildine into a hall and class rooms for St. Joseph's school passed off with great success. The young ladies who took part in the various plays entered into the spirit of the characters undertaken by them with great intelligence and gave excellent representations. The tableaux vivants were also exceedingly good and displayed a most artistic taste in their arrangement, and the musical selections both vocal and instrumental were all that could be desired. Besides the advantages to be afforded by the building in question as increased and unrivalled accommoda • tion| for the pupils of St. Joseph's school, the means it thus furnishes of holding choice and pleasant entertainments are very valuable and such as the Catholic congregation may well congratulate themselves on possessing.

We are requested by the Most Rev. Dr. Moran to acknowledge the receipt of £3, towards the Dunedin Cathedral building fund, from Mr. J. O'Connell, of Papakaio.

The stained glass for the rose window in the facade of St. Joseph 's Cathedral,Dunedin,the gift of Miss Murphy and Mr P. Murphy, haß arrived from the establishment of Messrs. Mayer at Munich, and is now being placed in the frames. It is of great beauty, and will form an additional ornament of a high order to the beautiful church.

Those requiring tbe services of a dentist should call on Messrs. Myers and Co., Dentists, Octagon, corner of George street. They guarantee highest class work at moderate fees. Their artificial work gives general satisfaction, and the fact of them supplying a tern porary denture while the gums are healing does away with the inconvenience of being months without teeth. They manufacture single artificial tooth for Ten Shillings, and sets equally moderate The administration of nitrous oxide gas is also a great boor^to tl oga needing the extraction of a tooth. Read. " WORK FOR ALL. Permanent employment given toflnergetic men and women everywhere. £10 a week given and expdnses paid. Send at once for full particulars of the greatest money-making business in the world. Address J. F. HILL & CO , Augusta, Maine, United States. Don't miss this chance. Write to-day

Mr. Arthur Smith has purchased Mr. A. Domwell's business in Princess street, South, Dunedin, and will take care to provide his customers with meat of the best possible quality only, and at the lowest prices possible. Mr. Denis Moloney, late of the Ocean View Hotel, South Dunedin, has taken the Kensington Hotel, which he will carry on in his accustomed excellent style.

A cheap sale is now being held at the Granite House, George street, Dunedin. Marvellous bargains in the way of drapery and everything connected with it are thus offered to the public, who, for their own sakes, should not be backward in taking advantage of the opportunity afforded to them.

The society of St. Petersburg is exercised by a scandalous affair t the unfortunate hero of which is Count Alexander Apraxine, member of one of the first and most notable families of the Empire. A youth of seventeen, he was sentenced to rive years' banishment for theft, but he obtained a pardon from the Emperor. He had afterwards a disgraceful affair in Austria, and was obliged to leave that country. Now, for having forged some cheques, he has been sentenced to Siberia for 12 years. But the day after the verdict, at the earnest entreaty of his relatives, who belong to the very highest circles, and hold offices about the Court, the Emperor has again partially remitted the sentence, and there is no doubt whatever but that the Count Apraxine wili never be sent to Siberin. It will be easily understood that thisf repeated clemency of the Czar in favour of so perverted a scion o nobility is looked upon by the Opposition with unconcealed discontent. So implacable towards politioil offenders, the Czar is overmerciful to one who deserves neither pity nor forgneness. It would be wiser and truer policy towards the aristocracy in these democratic bays to remove, instead of preserving, its worthless and rotten dmnches,