ABOUT EDUCATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 15, 5 August 1887, Page 15

ABOUT EDUCATION.

S Catholics are taking no part in the controversy now going on in reference to this question, we are indisposed to interfere except in so far as to chronicle current events, and criticise them dispassionately. Our duty as regards the agitation of the education question was discharged long ago. From the first we protested against the godless system now established, and so long as it appeared to be our duty we kept adding to our protest argaments against it, derived from all quarters. But the time came when it was evident to us that any farther straggle oa our part would be utterly useless, and then, as no one is bound to the inutile, we retired from the arena and only dropped a shot now and then to show that " still we lived." We look upon the question now as so firmly intrenched in the selfishness of

* Urge class gradually become possessed of a species of veßted interest in godless schools, that nothing but absolute inability to meet the expenses of them can overthrow them. It is a question, however, whether the country has not arrived at the point of this inability. Many think that it has, and with the exception of those who have a direct pecuniary interest in maintaining the present system of education, it is doubtful if there are many except the Premier who think that instead of diminishing the education grant, it should, on the contrary, be increased even in these days of depression and heroic resolve to have retrenchment in all other directions. But except the want of money wherewith to pay for godless schools there is nothing else that can either abolish or amend them. We look upon the agitation for the reading of the Bible in them as futile. Otago may, indeed, return a majority of Members pledged to vote for the reading of the Bible in public schools, but we are of opinion that it will be found a majority of the representatives of New Zealand after the general election now so close at hand will be on the other tide. Men do not believe that there is much sincerity in this agitation, or that what the Bible-in-schools people demand would, if conceded, be of any practical utility. Christians who are in earnest and really deplore the banishment of God and His religion from the schoolroom will certainly look for something more, and will as a last resource establish Christian schools for theii own children. On people who are satisfied with the mere reading of the Bible by thoughtless children as a sufficient religious instruction, religion must sit rather lightly. The loudest cries and most vehement protestations will be little heeded by the public and will meet with little sympathy. There is one way, and only one way now, indeed, a difficult way,— of making the public schools Christian, and that is the way of denominational education. Let all who believe godless schools an evil, a danger to the well-being of the State, and an enemy to Christianity, come out from the system, establish denominational schools, and join the Catholics in claiming their fair sharo of the public funds for denominational schools, and there would be some hope. Their earnestness and sacrifices would entitle them to the respect of their fellow-citizens, and their sympathy, and their union with the Catholics would secure for them a power both in the polling booths and the Legislature that such men as the Premier would find it hard to resist. But so long as they continue to accept, even under protest, the present system, and send their children to godless schools, so long will their agitation for Bible-in-schools be the cry of people in the wilderness. Such is our view of this Bible-in-schools agitation. We doubt if it is really sincere, except on' the part of a few ; and we feel quite certain it will be without effect. Catholics can never recede from the position taken up by them in every country in the world. They can never hand over their children to be educated in godless schools, and consequently they can be relied upon as allies true and staunch. How many will join them in an agitation for justice to denominational schools ? How many will take part with them in demanding for such schools a fair share of the public funds — the money their supporters contribute for the support of education ? Will the Bible-in-schools people, in the event of their not securing the introduction of the Bible into schools ? We shall see ; and yet there is no other way of obtaining for their children even a tincture of Christianity in schools.

We are informed that the total receipts of the concert given in Port Chalmers lately, amounted to £25 12s, expenditure £6 6s 6d, leaving the balance, £19 5s 6d to the presbytery fund. It is the intention of the committee to repeat the concert in Dunedin in St. Joseph's schoolroom on Wednesday, the 10th of August, in aid of the building fund of the St. Leonard's Church. In speaking of the division existing between parties in England, M. Perry says in the Figaro :—": — " The division between the two parties is a fact to-day. The Radical fraction of the Liberal Unionists who obey Mr. Chamberlain, and who ought to have been with Mr. Gladstone, are equally irreconcilable. The Whig party is considerably weakened. The Irish clergy alone wait and hope. Lord Salisbury could not obtain from Leo XIII. a single word hostile to the aspirations of the Nationalists." We are glad to see that Mr. Stuart, of Waimate still remains faithful to the cause of justice towards the Catholic settlers of the Colony, and continues to recognise their lawful claims in educational matters. Tuesday la9t, being the Centenary of St. Alphonsus Liguori, was celebrated in a special manner at St. Joseph's cathedral, Dunedin. A

Mass was offered in the morning, at which many members of the confraternities of the Holy Family and of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour were present, and in the evening there were Benediction of ! the Most Holy Sacrament, and other devotions. His Lordship, the Bishop, who delivered a lecture on the life of the saint, and the &>sson to be derived from it, remarked particularly on the numerous attendance, the church being completely filled, which, on a week-day even. ing, when many must have come at inconvenience to themselves, hia Lordship said he considered very creditable. The Bishop acted as 1 oelebrant at Benediction, assisted by the Bey. Fathers Lynch and Tereker. The music, with the exception of the Te Deum, which was ohanted alternately in unison and harmony by the priests and acolytes, was sung by the members of the confraternities. Besideß the " O Stlutaris," and"Tantum Ergo," sang at the Benediction, it con« sisted cf hymns to St. Patrick, St Alphonsus, and Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. The singing at the meetings of the confraternitiet is becoming extremely good, and promises to produce a marked effect upon that of the congregation generally, which it bids fair to encourage and make general. The confraternities, indeed, promise to affect the religious life of the congregation generally in a vary marked manner, and in more ways than one. They may be regarded as one of the happiest resnlts of the late mission of the Bedemptorist Fathers. The London Times seems to have been running amuck with a vengeance. Not only is Mr. Frank Hugh O'Donuell proceeding against it on behalf of the Irish nationalists but Sir John Pope Hennessy, who, by the way, has been restored to bis position in Mauritius, has also issued a writ against it for libel, claiming £20,000 damages.— lt is to be hoped he may prove as successful in his action as he has been against the bureaucrats at Port Louis. That interesting clause in the Land Act has passed, amongat others, through committee, which provide! for eviction by means of written notices only, and removes from the unfortunate tenants every vestige of protection against the arbitrary will of their landlords.— But " peace reigns at Warsaw " is the motto of Lord Salisbury. A Mass of Requiem for the repose of the soul of the late Father Higgins was celebrated in St. Mary's church, Invercargill, on Wednesday. — A full congregation, including the" school-children, was present. The ceremony was particularly impressive. We shall be anxious to receive the newspapers giving details of that lively scene in the House of Commons in which Mr. Healy, &■ reported in a receat telegram, threatened to break the neck of Mr. de Lisle, and was consequently suspended for a fortnight. At a time when certain Irish Catholics dare not open their lips without danger of being branded as heretics and schismatics, it mnst be most interesting for them to learn to what lengths their superiors may go while they still abide in the odour of sanctity — whioh is to-day confounded in England with the smell of the primrose. It was something religious of course that formed the subject of Mr. de Lisle'a utterance. The Gladstonites have had another victory in the election of Sir George Otto Trevelyan, the recent convert from Unionism, for the Bridgeton division of Glasgow. Sir George was elected by a majority of 1401 over the votes gained by his Conservative opponent, the Hon. Evelyn Ashley.

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The story that Marshal Ney was not executed in Paris after the battle of "Waterloo but was saved by a mock execution, passed as Michael Budolph, and died in North Carolina, id revived. The largest gas well in the world has just been discovered at Fairmount, near Muncie, Indiana. The test of Professor Orton, state geologist of Ohio, shows that it is flowing nearly 12,000,000 feet per day. The McCaull Opera House, Philadelphia, was mobbed by indignant Irish-Americans, lately, who resented the burlesque play presented there of "McSwiggen's Parliament,'