EDUCATION AGAIN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 39, 15 July 1892, Page 17

EDUCATION AGAIN.

The Fates have not decided one thing. They have not decided that we shall be spared the necessity of again writing on the subject of education and of again and, we suppose again, protesting against the principle of the Education Act and the mode of its administration. As yet we have taken, nothing by all our arguments and protests on this subjectstill our duty as journalists forbids us to cease agitating the question, be it ever so distasteful and apparently useless. la our last writing in reference to education in this country.

we denounced the policy of compelling Catholics to pay for teaching the children of the Colony calumnies against the Catholic Church and misrepresentations of Catholics. To-day it is our duty to denounce another piece of tyranny and injustice. A very influential gentleman has written to us an account of the treatment of a Catholic candidate for the position of teacher in a public school in the Province of Canterbury. The teacher in question applied for the situation ; the school board sent his name and credentials to the school committee of the school in question. The school committee, after careful investigation, declared this teacher the most qualified of all the candidates for the office. But one of the committee interposed with the proposition that enqui y should be made as to the religion of the best qualified teacher, saying that a Catholic should not be appointed as they wanted their teacher to bring the children to the Sunday school. On this, inquiry was made, with the result that the man they had selected as the best qualified was a Catholic. On ascertaining this the committee rejected this Catholic because he he was a Catholic, and for no other reason. So much for secular education and public schools in this country. And this is not an isolated case, but is in accordance with the general practice. As a rule, school committees reject all Catholics Bimply because they are Catholics. They refuse to employ Catholic teachers, but they are careful to compel Catholics to pay their non-Catholic teachers for inculcating lies and calumny against Catholics and their Church and for supporting free education for their own children. This is the way in which secularism in this country is in reality sectarianism. And this is the way in which a community, not ashamed to boast of its liberality and fair play, practices justice and equity. Out, then, upon a country which can thus, without shamefacedness, indulge in falsehood and organised hypocrisy.

The annual concert in aid of the Society of St Vincent de Paul will take place in Dunedin on Tuesday evening the 19th mat. A very attractive programme has been selected, and the performance will be •xceptionally good. The Society are much in nesd of the aid they appeal for in this way, and a meritorious work of charity will be done by all who give thtir patronage to the entertainment. It is earnestly hoped that a crowded house may testify to the pity for the poor that ia felt in Danedin. A congest will be given at Mosgiel on Friday evening the 22nd inst, in aid of the funds of the Catholic Church of the district, The assistance of several of the principal Dunedin amateurs has been secured, and a very choice entertainment may be expected. Many, of our readers will be interested to hear that news of the Rev Father O'Neill of Milton has been received in Danedin. The rev gentleman had arrived, after a safe and pleasant voy&ge, at Colombo, and was in excellent health and spirits. There were several other Catholic clergymen on board the vessel with him. The clause of the Electoral Bill giving the franchise to women has been carried in committee. An amendment proposed by Mr Carncross, making women eligible as Members of Parliament, was evidently rejected only because it was considered likely to defeat their enfranchisement. It is, however, evident that their promotion to sit in Parliament is but a matter of time, and of no very distant time either. Petticoat government, therefore, threatens us in the immediate future. We must only grin and bear it, putting our trust in Providence. A bepobt cornea from Paris, to the effect that the forces of the King of Dahomey have destroyed the Catholic missions at a place called Bagry, and burned three priests and three nuns. The barbarians were afterwards defeated by the French troops. It is to be hoped that this war may result in putting an end to a monarchy that has long been a crying disgrace to the world. France is especially concerned in the matter, the infamous King having been educated at one of her lyceums. The reported renewal of a Russian advance on Afghanistan seems just now somewhat ominous. The effect of the famine may have been to quicken the desire of the Czar for the outlet necessary for the completion of bis empire, as well as for a command of the fertile country lying in the neighbourhood of Herat. A desperate effort to carry out the long Buspected design seems quite within the realms of possibility. It is, however, explained that the advance is intended ooly to forestall Chinese encroachments on the Pamir. It is a time of great fires. Two-thirds of St John's, Newfoundland, and one half of Cbristiaaia, the capital of Norway, have been burned down:

The choir of St Joseph's Cathedral on Sunday evening were re-inforced by the Misses R. and K. Blaney, and Messrs J. Jago and F. L. Jones. These ladies aad gentlemen sang with exquisite sweetness and taste, the quartettes, "In Manus Tuas " and " God is a Spirit." Messrs Jago and Jones also sang respectively as solos, with very fine effect, an " 0 Salutaris " from Mozart, and " Waft her angels." The Montague-Turner Opera Company are playing to crowded houses at the Princess Theatre, Dunedin. The operas so far produced have been the " Bohemian Girl " and the " Trovatore," both of which were markedly successful. The company 'a repertoire is finely selected, and will be brilliantly carried out. The election of a Speaker to the Legislative Council, in room of the late Sir Harry Atkinson, took place last week. The choice fell on the Hon Mr Miller, of Oamaru. The election has given general satisfaction, Mr Miller beiog deservedly esteemed as well qualified to fill the position. A cobbespondent of the St James" Gazette tells a ridiculous story of a John Bull, who, after the fashion of such, stood agape, with his hat on, staring at a statue of the Blessed Virgin carried in procession at Malta — and who, as a well merited consequence, had his hat blocked. Ignorance and rudeness, however, rather than bigotry, again after the fashion of the animal, seem to have been his motive. He took the lesson sweetly, and, by -and- by, seeing another image carried past, saluted it respectfully. Bat this was an image of Pontius Pilate — exposed for contempt— and disagreeable coneequences again followed. Serve him right, say we. The Ovide Musin Concert Company, which will give three concerts at the Garrison Hall, Dunedin, next week, come to us heralded by praise of the most enthusiastic kind. The critics of the towns North of this city have hardly been able to find terms in which to epeak with sufficient warmth of their performances. As a violinist M. Musin stands in the foremost rank — having long since gained world-wide fame, and made a lasting mark in the chief cities and on the most faßtidious audiences of Europe and America. Madame Tanner- Musin is t he owner of a phenomenal soprano voice.which reaches with clearness and sweetnesstheGinalt, andwbose culture is perfect. M. Eduard Scharf is a pianist worthy to perform in company with the artists named. He is a pupil of the Leipzig Conservatory, where his studies were crowned by his winning the famous Moscheles prize. Three such musicians have probably never before visited our city together. Doubtless full advantage will be taken of their visit by our music-loving townspeople.