Questions for Candidates

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 45, 9 November 1905, Page 3

Questions for Candidates

Thß Bihle-m-sehools party are just now busy prodding Parliamentary candidates with sundry sharp-pointod questions. This is one of the little games in which two parties caai take a hand In reply to many qoielnes from various parts of New Zealand, we venture to suggest the fallowing questions to candidates whose attitude towards the of the- public schools has .not yet bee<n declared, or, if declared, is not as clear or as satisfactory as might he desired :—: — 1. Do you approve of the broad lines of the scheme adopted by the Bible-m-sehools Referendum League — namely, to introduce into the State schools of New Zealand, as part of tlve school curriculum, a course of lessons drawn up toy a Protestant Committee from the Protestant Authorised Version of the Bible ? 2. Do you, specifically, approve of the following further planks in the scheme of the Bible-in-schools Referendum League — munely :—: — (a) The proposal to compel Catholics ami other conscientious objectors' — with the alternative of distraint of goods, imprisonment, or otter legal penalty — to pay taxes for the teaching, by State officials, of the aforesaid lessons from the Protestant Authorised Version of the Bible ? (b) The proposal -to legalise the introduction, into the State schools, of a religions test— namely a conscience clause — for pupils ami teachers (c) The proposal to determine this question of personal conscience and religious freedom by a plebiscite ? 3. Are you, as a general principle, in favor of the compulsory payment of taxes by conscientious objectors for the direct teaching of religious tenets or principles in which they do not bchovo ? 4. Are you, as a general principle, in favor of determining ;q|ues<tions of personal conscience and religious freedom by popular vote?

6, In the event of the scheme of the Bible-in-schools Referendum League, or any soheme of like import, becoming law, will you, if elected, vote for a fair capitation or other gra/nt to Catholic schools fox the purely secular instruction imparted therein, in accordance with the Government curriculum, and certified by Go\ernment inspectors ? The questions here suggested would by themselves alono suffice to show candidates that there is another and \ery important side to this question. We strongly urge upon all our readers the systematic distribution of the two pronouncements of out Hierarchy among both candidates and electors during the present electoral campaign. An announcement in reference thereto appears on page 17 of this issue.