Questions for Candidates

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 47, 23 November 1905, Page 3

Questions for Candidates

1. Do you approve of the broad lines of the scheme adopted by the Bible-in-schools Referendum League— namely, to introduce into the State schools of New Zealand, as part of the school curriculum, a course of lessons drawn up by 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 — namely :—: — % (a) The proposal to compel Catholics and other conscientious objectors — with the alternative of distraint of goj)ds, imprisonment, or other 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 religious test — namely a conscience clause— for pupils and 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 believe ? 4. Are you, as a general principle, in favor of determining questions of personal conscience and religious freedom by popular vote ? 5. In the event of the scheme of the Bible-in-schools Referendum League, or any scheme of like import, becoming law, will you, if elected, vote for a fair capitation or other grant to Catholic schools for the purely secular instruction imparted therein, in accordance with the Government curriculum, and certified by Government inspectors ?