THE BIBLE-BURNING IN FIJI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 12, 19 March 1903, Page 4

THE BIBLE-BURNING IN FIJI.

THE TRUE VERSION OF THE STORY.

We have elsewhere referred to the violent agitation which was artificially aroused in Australia, and to a much lesser extent in New Zealand, about the Bibleburning incident in Fiji. The destruction of the Wesleyan New Testaments was \ariously attributed to Father Rougier, S M , to some non-existent ' Sisters of Mercy, and to ' two European Sisters at Rewa ' ; and a heated and untruthful story specified at precisely 238 the number of Sacred Books "belonging to the Namosi 1500 Methodist converts to the Catholic Church, which were reduced to smoke and ashes by ' sacrilegious flames.' Jews, Catholics, and every one of the odd hundreds of Protestant denominations, as we have shown in \arious editorial articles, use fire, as a matter of course and established custom, for the honorable destruction of Sacred Volumes and other re\ ered objects that have passed the days or occasion of their use. But in the lace of the common and e\ cry-day religious and social usages of civilised Christian and non-Christian peoples, it was assumed in Australia, without the shadow of evidence or the slightest pretence of investigation, that the soiled and useless Wesle.van Bibles decently cremated in Fin were destroyed in deliberate and blasphemous contempt for the Written Word ol Cod Hence hot and hasty resolutions by conlerences, one of which actually threw out a motion to defer action pending iuithei liiloimation ; hence, too, the open threats published in S.vdney and New Zealand, that the Methodist natives oi Fi|i would aveime the ' insult ' by a ' savage ' and gory "civil wai ' The 'Fi|i Times' ol Wednesday, Fehii.aiy 2.">, a copy of winch is to hand, gives the true tails ol the case m a letter to the editor Jrona the pen of lather Rougiei , S i\i — Sir— Will you kindly allow me to explain in its ti ue light tho Naililili incident, which, throuuh misrepresentation, seems to have occasioned uncalled for indiunation .md corulemn.it ion by some ot mv Protestant friends The "W P lleiald,' x>f Februai v l.'i and 17, published three statennnts legardmg this matter nil false and misleading . vi/ , that 2;W W<sl(\.m Bibles weie ' publicly ' binned at \aililih Mission, and that I denied that ' any Bibles ' weie burned Now, what are the leal facts of this case which weie sei/ed upon with such intemperate haste and avidity b\ the 'W P Herald.' and so twisted ,\-m\ wrested fi om the truth as to lead the public to believe that a eait-load of Weslevan Bibles weie publicly (lemated at Naililib, after the pattern set by the Spanish Innuisit ion and Queen Maiv, with my full knowledge and sanction heralded by trumpet and drum and the Naililili Maud amid the exult nn>" shouts of applauding onion' ers I 'or 1 he-,e weie the rumors spread abroad in Suva as h,uiiin actually occurred Well, the sic ruler and real loundation of this perversion of truth is — 1 The \er v lust intimation 1 had ol this ' public' holocaust of Bibles was when I read the statement in the 'W 1' Herald ' of Februniv 1."! 2 Upon making an immediate inquiry, I found that no W'eslevan Bibles ot any value had been burned, but were still m the keeping- ot our- mission :? That follow nm the practice of the Catholic Church, and the strict miunctions laid clown m its rubtf-ics, which onl.uii (hut all matei lal of a sacred character appertaining to church worship, such ns missals, altar linen and vestments-, blessed crucifixes and sacred pictures, prayer books Bibles, etc when worn out nnd past use, shall be dest i over! by (no Following this injunction, the Catholic Sisters did, on Febnuirv 12, ns they are wont to do periodically bum up in the lime-kiln aided by a lew of their pupils one biscuit -t m full of torn and useless Catholic boo 1 s and Church material, and one kerosene case filled with soiled and useless W'eslevan Testaments and hymn bool s which Kaniosi converts had ex(hanued tor Catholic books •1 As ,i prool that the Sisters were not actuated by nnv hosiilo feelings oi (1 spmt ol wanton destruction in diseharumn this dul\ t he\ put as'de on the bu.ibua locs two Weslevan Test annuls which they found to be, as Mr Burns testifies ' one neailv complete and the other quite <-o ' These were the books stolen by Mr Bums' schoolboys.

Behold here a plain statement of facts upon which the W.P. Herald,' the Rev. W. A. Burns, and ' Anglican ' havo built up ' with grief and indignation ' and ' perfect accuracy ' (Burns) a most fraudulent account ol the ' public 'burning of 238 Wesleyan Bibles at Naililili Mission ; and this ' sacrilegious ' and ' abominable dishonor ' evidently perpetrated in a spirit of ' rank bigotry,' as a ' studied insult and outrage to the feelings of the entire community ' (Anglican). Here I would ask Rev. Mr. Burns, if this case were reversed, and ho became possessor of a quantity of Catholic Testaments and hymn books, all tattered and torn, and soiled and worn, and no longer acceptable to any one, what would he do with them ? So far as we Catholics are concerned, we should feel deeply indebted to him if ho quietly committed them all to the flames, and thus saved them the risk of being utilised for viler purposes. Now for another little episode in connection with this exhibition of ' rank bigotry.' On Monday, the 16th, I started for Suva on the Victoria, which, having engaged to take the Volador in tow, Captain Cuthbert did not expect to reach Suva till midnight. So he suggested that the European passengers should proceed to Suva on the Government steam launch. As soon as I stepped on board with the rest, Dr. Corney, addressing me, said : ' I cannot take you on this launch, you must return to the- Victoria.' At the time Dr. Corney gave me this ungracious rebuff, he had no means of knowing whether the ' W.P. Herald's ' statement was true or false. He had simply read the accusation ; and, without waiting to hear the reply, he accepted the accusation as true ITo prejudged the whole case. He did not even ask me, as ho could easily have done, whether the charge was true or false. A little incident like this helps the intelligent reader to see on which side the ' rank bigotry ' predominates. When I published my denial of 238 Wesleyan Bibles having been publicly burned at Naililili, the editor of ' W.P. Herald ' explained that his ' reliable authority ' had said he saw ' some material ' being burned, and that he was told that it was W. lotu books. Are we to understand from this that it was the editor of the ' W P. Herald ' himself who supplied the number of Bibles burned as 238, just to ornament the story and give it an air of plausibility and truth ? I must add, the Catholic Sisters here absolutely deny having used any ' contemptuous language ' concerning the books that were burnt, as Mr. Burns' boys asserted. The rev. gentleman resides within five minutes walk of Naililili Station. If he is sincere in saying he desires to ' think no evil 'of any man, and presumably ' wishes no evil ' to any man., why did he not first call on me and the Sisters for an explanation of this matter before publishing his letter in the ' W.P. Herald I Is it thiat he feared the bubble might be pricked, and his secret hopes exploded ? — T am, etc , EMM ROTJOIER, SM , CM., Naililili, Rewa, 21/2/03. According to accounts in the daily papers of last Thursday, ' the Fiji passengers on the Tavium at Auckland state that the interest in the Bible-burning at Suva has very much diminished, and little more is likely to bo heard of it There never was, they state, so much importance attached to the matter locally as was displayed abroad. It was only the keen enmity existing between the Catholics and other denominations which fanned the circumstances into such flaming prominence ' A later issue of the ' Fiji Times ' leports that tho publication of Father Rougier's letter set at rest whatever modicum of excitement may have locally existed, and states editorially that ' tho imputation of the committal of an offensive a ct cannot bo sustained.' And the artificial teacup tempest about the Bible-burning in Fiji has subsided almost as quickly as it arose.