THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 18, 24 August 1888, Page 17

THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS.

T is an extraordinary thing that ever since the establishment of the present education system, now more than ten years ago, the authority that established it never made any arrangement as to uniformity in reference to class books. Under the arrangement prevailing all this time the head master of each school could compel the child 'en to provide whatever books he approved of, irrespective of consideration arising from the selection made, not or-ly in the different provinces, but even in neighbouring schools. The consequence has been general diversity and consequent inconvenience and expense to pupils and their parents. Owing to wide-spread d ; ssat : sfaction, the School Board of Otago has drawn up a list of school books, which are to be used for the next three years. This is not much in the way of amendment, but, little as it is, it has not given satisfaction, nor do we think anything that can be done will give general satisfaction till Government provides free books as well as free teaching for the rising generation. Many people are very fond of education so long as it is free, provided by the public, bit these are not easily pleased if they have to pay for it as parents. Some approve of the selection made by the Board, others are dissatisfied, but we are unable, from anything that has appeared in public, to ascertain the rcl grounds either of the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of nonCatholics ; all we know for certain is that Catholics are dissatisfied, for very good reasons. Catholics object to have children taught as they are in " Outlines of English History "by Gardiner, p. 148, that the cause of the thing miscalled the Eeformation arose from " the idle lives " of the monks and nuns ; " that most of them were living idle, useless lives, and cared very little about more than the form of religion, and that both they and the priests were extremely ignorant" (p. 142. ) In page 1 47 of this " Outline," which the Board has appointed to be learrt by pupils in the high standards, we find the following precious piece of historical travesty : " Far more important than anything else that Henry did was the translation of the Bible which he ordered. He had little idea how great a change he was preparing when he gave orders that the Bible Bhould be printed in English. He thought that people would learn from it to resist the Pope, and he did not suspect that they were likely to find in it very different things from those which he himself believed. He little thought that from that book to which he appealed, his subjects would learn a higher faith and a purer virtue than his, and that they would gain a confidence which ! would make them as determined to resist Kings as they were to resist Popes." This is rather too strong under a system which Catholics are compelled to pay for. But, bad as this is, it is mild compared to what children are taught in the High School, Danedin. Here are a couple of specimens of what the godless system can do : The class-book of English history, page 205, in this school, teaches its pupils, and the unfortunate Catholics who are

there, amongst the rest, « The abuses of the Church were now manifest ; its errors were plain ; the idle and corrupt life of hFSJt r> cler «7 and monastic Orders caused honest men n? 5 %'T V LEO S- wanted mone y t0 finish Church of St. Peter, Rome. For this purpose he sent out monks to Bell indulgences or pardons of sins.' It is vi ,eec *ary to !£l fe n c «?. tractß ' . tfkat has been quoted suffices to show why Catho ics are dissatisfied with the class-bool-s in use m rll the schools of Otajo. We dare say the Catholics of the otl er Provinces have reason to be equally disLatisfied. Is it not a shame, a reproach to the civilisation and liberality of the age, to compel Catholics to pay for the maintenance of a HTT 7^ eha PP royes of the teaching of such nonsense and «W? a " Bm s gyration, even to tbeir own cH'dren, nmrti 7 f a n SB.?S 8 .?" B***™8 ***™ to be confided to its tender £Z« Vl> -fft^ th ° lICS learn from this how terrib^ respon;. bihty if they permit their children to be thus stuffed E mJSSffT^^S **? falßehoods » *Mdi «w calculated to undermine their faith and demoralise them. For Catholics t^vml C^l T S l 6 ?° UrSe *° be P urßued > and that », £ c if t f c Bch °ols for their own children, and/no 357. -n, mm T yenlence > to kee P them from the piwu> m.Sil U ? T teD l Of educat i°* established here, no San^r^ TJT J ha J6J 6 been the motives of thoße "ko actual'/ S?E2^#\rf. Viß6d and iDtended to deßtr °y> * Possible, the faith of Catholics first, then that of all Christians. The S n»Zf •?f? f cono ff T od the idea of it, had in view the ruin, of Christianity, and the re-establishment of Paganism on its 1