THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 12, 29 July 1898, Page 6

THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR N.Z. TABLET.

Slß,— -lour leader in the Tablet of the 15th. insfc. upon the Education Question is opportune, and the query, ' What are we doing,' pertinent. The same question has been asked, I believe, at least tacitly by many earnest Catholics in New Zealand during the past year or two, and it calls loudly for an answer. In truth there can be but one answer. The admission of our fault having been made, let us rise as one man to the performance of our duty. The bishops and priests are the natural leaders of our people. They will find a faithful, nay, an enthusiastic following. Let them marshal the Catholic forces of the country, and form a league with a central committee or council to direct the movements of the whole body, organised as you suggest. The odds u gainst us are great ; all the more honour to those who fight : the fiercer the conflict the more glorious the victory. It has been related of Confucius (as of many others who have irisen to eminence) that in his early years he gave little promise of his future greatness. When at school his progress was so_ small that he at last gave up all hopes of success, and was returning home in despair, when he saw a woman by the wayside rubbing a crowbar on a stone. He stood and watched her for a little while, and then asked her what she was doing. She replied that she wanted a needle to mend her clothes with, but she hadn't got one nor money to buy one, so she was rubbing down the crowbar to make one. Confucius took to himself the lesson ; he returned to school and became eventually the shining light of his nation. The Catholic Education Question may be to some as formidable as the crowbar, but be it remembered the sooner the crowbar is on the grindstone, by so much sooner will come the accomplishment of our aims. Hoping at an early date to be called upon for a subscription towards the funds of the league, — I remain, etc., John Henry Parkeu. New Plymouth, July 1.